Off Balance
by MrsLittletall
Summary: After the Pure Vessel has transformed from their child stage into an adolescent stage, something seems to be wrong with them. Not only this but the Pale King has to face his feelings regarding the Pure Vessel.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: After the Pure Vessel has transformed from their child stage into an adolescent stage, something seems to be wrong with them. Not only this but the Pale King has to face his feelings regarding the Pure Vessel.

(Author's note: Hooray, it's my first fic for the Hollow Knight fandom!

In a small Hollow Knight Discord I run someone drew a fanart of a teenage Pure Vessel and then was like: "Look at this horns, how do they keep their balance?", which sparked the idea to this fic.

I wanted to write a redemption fic for the Pale King anyway and this was just perfect for a start. I hope you enjoy.)

It had become his morning routine to visit the Hollow Knight in their chrysalis.

And like usual, the chrysalis was still untouched. It just stood there with its blackish silk colour, the Pure Vessel growing inside, waiting for the moment to hatch from it.

They had pupated shortly after they had finished the Path of Pain. And the Pale King had been so proud. It was the moment he knew that he had chosen the right vessel. It was the moment that brought him a step closer to acquiring their goal and get rid of the infection once and for all.

...But it also was the moment for him to get doubts.

Just as proud as he had been about the success of the Hollow Knight, a name the knights hard started to give the Pure Vessel, mainly because of their inability to emote and speak, they had looked back at him and even though he knew better, it looked like they were happy.

This of course couldn't have been the case. The vessel was pure and therefore not able to feel anything. He surely only had projected his own feelings on them. After all, he had convinced himself that no cost would be too great. After countless experiments which made his wife retreat shedding silent tears, he finally had managed to find the one who would safe them all. And all time they spend together only served for them to get stronger.

The Pale King had just turned around and intended to leave, having made sure that the chrysalis was untouched and they wouldn't hatch today either, when he heard the distinct sound of silky threads made of void being torn.

As he turned around, there was a certain feeling of excitement. After all, that was the first time he would see a vessel grown up from their child form. He walked closer to the chrysalis and waited.

It took the Pure Vessel a good while to hatch out of the chrysalis, all the while the Pale King watched, ready to interfere should he spot any troubles. Gladly, the Pure Vessel managed to break out of the chrysalis on their own, their hollow eyes focusing on the Pale King before them.

The Pale King let his gaze wander over them. They had managed to grow a good bunch while being in the chrysalis (granted, the size of it had already hinted at it) and were now around the same size as the Pale King. Their cloak like wings enveloped their body made of void, shaped to arms and legs, being kept in shape by the mask they were wearing. Out of the mask came two rather large horns. They were almost half the size of their entire body and the Pale King wondered briefly why they hadn't poked out of the chrysalis when the Pure Vessel walked their first step after having hatched...

...and promptly stumbled and fell.

Before he knew it, the Pale King had been at their size and caught them. He... actually didn't knew why he had done that. He knew how strong the Pure Vessel was. He knew they would be able to get up easily after having fallen down. So why...

He quickly let go of them and they fell to their knees, seeming to struggle to get up. It had to be the aftermath of spending all these weeks in the chrysalis. Even a being mainly made of void needed some sustenance and so he should get them something to eat. Perfect that he had intended to get his breakfast anyway, like every day after he had checked on the chrysalis.

"Come.", he said. "Eat something. Then resume your training."

He could see how the Pure Vessel shivered a bit, their head was lowered towards the ground. They managed to pull themselves up and walked a few shaky steps before they fell again.

The Pale King frowned. Their time in the chrysalis must have been more taxing than he thought. He walked over to them and helped them up, feeling the cold sensation of the void on his exoskeleton. Once they had a steady grip, he supported them with his own weight and started walking to his chambers without saying another word. The Hollow Knight just let it happen, their feet getting more and more secure with each supported step.

As he reached his chambers, the servant for this day already was present and said: "Your majesty, your breakfast has prepared like usual. Please let us know if you need anything more." At the sight of the Hollow Knight their eyes grew wider. "I see that our Pure Vessel has joined us once again. I will get a second serving right ahead."

The Pale King nodded to them and led the Pure Vessel inside his chambers, sitting them down on a chair before taking in his own place. He stared at the food in front of him. Technically, there was nothing that would prevent him from eating besides... besides the Pure Vessel staring at him. Or his food?

"Are you in need of sustenance that badly...?", the Pale King asked, looking from his plate to the Pure Vessel and his plate again.

Even though they would get food soon, the Pale King had the feeling that he was the one who could wait a bit more. He hadn't spent the last month in a chrysalis. He remembered how taxing a transformation could be. Softly sighing, he took his plate and offered it to the Vessel, who stared at him with wide eyes.

The Pale King sat back down and observed the Vessel, who examined the food in front of them before gazing at him, as if wanting to get confirmation. After the Pale King nodded, they began to eagerly eat.

The Pale King often asked himself how they even ate, it wasn't like the Hollow Knight had a mouth or mandibles, with their faze mostly frozen in the same expression. He assumed it was the void that had to be fed directly. They just figured out a way to eat that looked "normal" for the other palace residents.

Strange... the Hollow Knight shouldn't possess a mind. It shouldn't be possible to figure something like that out.

The Pale King shook off the thought and turned his attention to the door when he heard a knock. He raised from his chair and walked over to it, opening it himself, seeing the servant with the second serving.

"Thank you, you are dismissed.", the Pale King said and took the serving right out of the hands of the astounded servant, closed the door and brought it back to his table, where he sat down to enjoy his own breakfast.

In the meantime, the Hollow Knight had finished their meal and their gaze wandered through the room, along with frantic movements of their head, it looked like they were searching for something. They stopped this behaviour however when they fell off the stool.

The Pale King had to frown a second time this morning. Now they had gotten some sustenance into their body. They shouldn't be that weak anymore... Ah well, their hatching hadn't even been an hour ago. He should give them some time.

The Pale King continued to indulge in his food watching as the Pure Vessel climbed back onto their chair, this time staying still. As if they feared they would fall a second time.

"Take your time.", the Pale King said once he had swallowed his current bite. "You just hatched. You may need a while."

From the Hollow Knight came another movement, a tiny nod towards the Pale King. It was a tiny gesture but for him it felt like his food got stuck into this throat.

He had made sure that the Vessel was a tool, the perfect soldier, the perfect empty being to contain the infection. He wasn't supposed to feel anything towards them!

He averted his gaze from them and finished his meal without looking into their direction one more time.

Once he was finished, he stood up and gestured for the Pure Vessel to follow him. Now that they were out of the chrysalis they needed to resume their training as soon as possible. The Pure Vessel carefully stood up from their chair, swayed a bit before they got a hold of themselves. They, however, only managed to walk a few steps before they fell again.

Had something gone wrong during their time in the chrysalis? Just why was it so hard for the Pure Vessel to walk? The Pale King had planned anyway to visit his Root, but maybe she also would be able to shine some light on the issue. For now, the Pale King walked over to the Pure Vessel, who was struggling to get up and offered his arm to them. They stared at him with their big eyes before taking the offered arm and letting themselves help up to walk with him.

A short while later they were in front of the White Lady's room, her faithful knight Dryya standing guard, raising her nail but lowering it once she recognized the ones approaching her.

"Your majesty.", she said, bowing and once the Pale King gave her the permission to move, she noticed the Hollow Knight and added: "And I see our little Hollow Knight is blessing us with their presence once again. Though they have grown."

As Dryya turned around to inform his Root about the Pale King's arrival, he noticed that the Pure Vessel's gaze followed Dryya. Maybe they were eager to resume their training? No, it couldn't be. The Pure Vessel didn't had any feelings. They weren't possessing a mind. He was probably just seeing things.

Dryya returned shortly after, stepping aside the door so that the Pale King could enter. He could feel how the Pure Vessel stumbled behind him, it felt like they were still focused on Dryya.

Once the Pale King had entered the room, he could see his Root in all her glory, letting go of the Hollow Knight to walk closer to her and embrace her. "My Root, it is wonderful to see that you are well this morning too."

"My Wyrm.", the White Lady said in response, lifting him up into the air to return the embrace, closing her eyes as her branches closed around him. "The pleasure is all mine. I trust that you had a good night's rest."

"I can not only assure you that, but I have truly fantastic news.", the Pale King said and the White Lady opened her eyes, gasping as she saw the second being in the room.

"I had the feeling that another being had been present.", she said, lowering the Pale King back to the ground. As she looked at the Pure Vessel, taking in their new form, her light glowing even brighter, the Pale King couldn't miss a certain sadness in her eyes.

"As you can see, our Pure Vessel has hatched from their chrysalis and they have quite grown.", the Pale King said. "Unfortunately, not all news I have today are as fantastic as this one, because something seems to be wrong."

The Pale King gestured for the Pure Vessel to come closer and like earlier in his chambers, they could only walk a few swaying steps before they fell.

"Ever since they hatched they weren't able to walk properly.", he explained.

His Root observed the Pure Vessel as they struggled to get up, managed and fell down only a few steps later again. Then, she started to chuckle, one of her branches covering her mouth. The Pale King only stared at her dumbfounded. He clearly didn't get what was so funny about this.

"Oh my Wyrm, cannot you see what is troubling the Pure Vessel?", she asked. "Haven't you told me of a similar problem of yours once you had transformed into your current form?"

The Pale King looked from the White Lady to the Pure Vessel and to the White Lady again but it took his Root lowering a branch to his crown like horns to make him understand.

"It's the horns.", he blurted out. "They are off balance because of them."

It had been a thing the Pale King hadn't noticed at first. At their child form, the horns of the pure Vessel hadn't stood out particular. All the Vessels did have horns in some sort of size and shape. But now that they had hatched and transformed into an adolescent form, their horns had grown a good deal. In fact, they had gotten so long, that they had to add a good portion of weight onto their head.

And like his Root had mentioned, once he had given up his godly body of the wyrm to transform into one that would make it easier for him to interact with the bugs of Hallow's Nest, now walking on two feet instead of flying through the air and slithering along the ground, his crown like horns had caused him quite some trouble, leaving him a few days stumbling and falling around until he had learned to balance his body with the added weight on his head.

"I must have been blind to not spot this.", he said, a robed arm wiping over his forehead. "Once again you are the wisdom I clearly need, my Root."

"As someone who faced the same struggles, shouldn't it be the most wise that you are the one who helps them regaining their balance, my Wyrm?", the White Lady said as she retracted her branch from his crown.

Something in the Pale King froze at this suggestion. He knew she was right. He knew she just acted out of a feeling of general kindness, but... the Pale King had already spent the whole morning pretty close to the Vessel. He knew their fate. He knew what they had been created for. He couldn't... he didn't want to get attached like this. That is why he mainly had let the five great knights letting handle their training, mostly watching their improvements from afar.

He had the feeling that it would be the best not to change anything about it. He would deliver the Pure Vessel at their training, explain their current problem with the balance and then could attend to his duties as the king of Hallow's Nest.

"I dearly thank you for your insights, my Root.", the Pale King said, giving her stem another embrace. "For now, we have to retreat. We will see each other later."

And with that, he took the Pure Vessel by the arm, pretty much yanking them out of the room, not looking back at the reaction his Root could have to this behaviour.

Once they were out of the room, the Pale King saw Dryya bow to him once again and noticed that the Hollow Knight's gaze was on her again. Or more precisely, on her nail. Where they asking themselves where their nail was? Of course they hadn't took the weapon with them in the chrysalis and the Pale King had left it to the five great knights to store it until they would hatch.

Though with them barely able to walk straight it felt like a waste to give them back their weapon, the Pale King had the feeling he wanted to at least offer them some comfort in this new situation and led them to the weapon storage.

Before they even had arrived, the Pale king knew that it was Ogrim hanging around there this morning, simply because of the overwhelming stench, stemming from his nature as a dung beetle and his... less common fighting methods. The Pale King had the impression that the Pure Vessel also tensed, still having his arm around their back to support them with walking. Apparently they very much possessed a sense of smell.

As the Pale King came closer, Ogrim noticed him and his companion and gave him a bow: "Good morning, your majesty." Once he had risen again he added: "And I see our little one has decided to join us once again! Though we shouldn't call them little anymore, they have quite grown." He finished his sentence with his signature jovial laughter. "But!", he said "Is something wrong with our Hollow Knight? It appears that they need your support, your Highness."

"They aren't used to their new horns yet.", the Pale King explained. "And they fall down every few steps when not supported."

"Then may I allow myself the question why you decided to bring them here? Shouldn't they learn to walk properly first again before they resume their training with us?"

At this words the Pure Vessel tensed again, making the Pale King question just which training Ogrim had unleashed on them. Thinking about his nature as a dung beetle, the Pale King could only assume it was something rather... smelly. He normally hadn't watched when they trained with Ogrim, because of said smell. Some people even had given him the nickname Dung Defender instead of the official White Defender.

"I know, but for some reason, they want to have their nail.", the Pale King said. "So I decided to get it for them."

"Oh, if this is all.", Ogrim said and entered the weapon storage, coming back out a short while later handing the Pure Vessel their nail: "Here you go, little one."

Once they had their nail back, the Pure Vessel walked a few steps forwards, releasing themselves from the support of the Pale King who watched with narrowed eyes. They only would fall again. What he didn't expect though was that the Pure Vessel started to do a few practice swings with the nail, kneeling down as if going for a dash but before they could act on their plan falling down again, their horns clanging hard on the ground.

It looked rather adorable and Ogrim apparently couldn't help but express his joy at this sight with a hearty laugh. It even infected the Pale King, who had to raises his robed arm to suppress his chuckle, all while the Hollow Knight only looked confused from Ogrim to the Pale King and then at their nail. Stared at it, as if they had some disdain with it.

"I think the nail is too small for you now.", Ogrim said once his laughing fit was over. "Not even to mention that you surely can't fight when you are off balance like this. Shall we work on them being able to walk straight again, your majesty?"

"No.", the Pale King said, to his own surprise. "I'll do it myself."

Ogrim had the same surprise on his face that the Pale King was feeling at his own words. "Of course, your majesty.", he said. "Just tell us once our Hollow Knight can join our training sessions again."

The Pale King nodded and helped the Pure Vessel up. This would be some work. But, he had the feeling that he would be the one who could teach the Pure Vessel how to regain their balance the quickest. After all, his Root was right. He had been in quite a similar situation once and knew what to do.

The next few days a good part of the Pale King's day was always dedicated to help the Pure Vessel with their new growth and more precisely, managing to regain their balance because of the increased size of their horns. The first day consisted mostly of him showing the Pure Vessel how to stand straight, not letting the weight of their horns get them down, but more than once their head fell forwards again which would make them inevitable fall down. It was a good thing the Pure Vessel possessed the gift of healing their shell with soul power, because some of the falls looked rather painful and even cracked their shell a bit and the Pale King didn't want to unleash the being that was restrained by the mask on his kingdom.

Three days later the Pure Vessel had to learn how to walk quite a few steps without falling down, but they still swayed now and then, needing a moment to regaining their balance. The Pale King asked himself if they already were ready to resume their training with the knights.

He had noticed a concern during this time. He enjoyed being in the presence of the Pure Vessel.

That was a thing that wasn't supposed to happen. He had made them hollow. He had made them pure. There was no room for feelings in that being that was born of god and void. They had a task and this was their only purpose.

So why was he feeling concern whenever he saw them fall down? Why did he feel proud whenever he saw that they picked themselves up without his help? Why was he feeling warmth whenever the Pure Vessel looked at him as if they were expecting something and when he told them they had made great progress and they looked so happy despite having an expressionless face?

It made the Pale King question what he even was doing. How often had he told himself that he did the right thing, that he would save the kingdom of the infection? How often had he tried to himself to convince that the Pure Vessel was merely a tool and not his own flesh and blood?

No, he couldn't give this all up. Not after the atrocities he had done that always made his Root look so sad. He should test if the Pure Vessel was fit enough for a fight and then give them back into the care of the five great knights, it was the best he would forget that this days had ever happened.

He rustled his wings and flew up, landing on a construction a bit higher up, only giving a small warning to the Pure Vessel: "If you are able to dodge this, then you are ready to resume your training with the others."

The Pure Vessel braced themselves. It was rare for the Pale King to fight himself, but that didn't mean that he wasn't capable of putting up a fight. He was a Wyrm after all. The only distaste he had about his fighting style was how similar it was to that of the accursed Radiance, mostly consisting of projectiles he could conjure at will and throw at his opponents.

Granted, he had given up a lot of his original power as he had transformed into a regular bug and used his powers to give the bugs of Hallow's Nest a mind of their own, but that didn't mean that he was an easy foe.

The Pale King chose a rather easy to dodge pattern at first and watched as the Hollow Knight didn't had trouble avoiding all the projectiles, not even coming close to fall over. His lessons about regaining their balance had worked after all.

The Pale King smiled and conjured a new row of projectiles, which encircled the Hollow Knight so that they had to react quick to find the opening. They also managed to overcome this challenge, though as they jumped out of the way this time they didn't land on their feet. They quickly scrambled up and awaited the next attack.

The Pale King's gaze darkened as he noticed how easy he had been on them. He wasn't supposed to getting attached. He was supposed to raise a Vessel that was able to stand up against the Radiance, to stand up against the infection. The Radiance would never go easy on them.

With these thoughts in mind, with him trying to convince himself that he was simply raising the perfect weapon and the thoughts of his mortal enemy in his mind, the Pale King unleashed his strongest attack, with the projectiles raining down on the Pure Vessel in a truly unpredictable way.

They still managed to avoid a good deal of them but when the inevitable happened and they fell again, not being able to get up before the next projectile would hit, they curled themselves in clearly awaiting the hit. And they... looked so scared.

In an instance the Pale King had cancelled the attack and was down on the ground at her side. That wasn't a weapon down there. That was his _ichild/i._

"I am sorry.", he said, embracing them. "I shouldn't have done that... All of this..."

The Pure Vessel raised their head and stared at him with these eyes filled with void. They looked like they had a thousand questions for him, but the Pale King knew they couldn't ask, because he made them without having a voice.

All of a sudden the Pure Vessel wriggled out of the Pale King's embrace, he felt a sting in his chest, but what did he expect, after what he had done...

Though instead of walking away, they just staggered the few steps to the wall where they had placed their nail. The nail that was far too small for them, but that they still had hold on. That he hadn't taken it from them, wasn't that the proof that the Pale King had taken them into his heart?

They walked back to him and put the nail on the ground. It looked like they wanted to write something. They quickly grew frustrated about the stone floor of the White Palace not being able to depict any words and threw the nail onto the ground, then, tensing, picking it back up in an instant, staying straight, as if nothing ever had happened.

"I made a mistake.", the Pale King said. "I wanted a being that was pure, that was hollow. A being that would be able to contain the infection. I should have known better... that a being like that can't be. And you...", he gently took the Hollow Knight's mask in his hands and looked into their eyes, "you tried so hard. To be what I wanted."

A small nod came from the Pure Vessel. How could the Pale King have been so blind? He had wanted to sacrifice his child. He almost had gone through with it. He almost had put endless pain and suffering on the shoulders of his own child.

"You must have a thousand questions...", the Pale King said. "Let's get back to my chambers. So that you can ask."

Back in his chambers the Pale King waited as the Pure Vessel wrote something on a scroll. He didn't knew who had taught them to write. He wouldn't have been surprised when they had taught themselves. It looked rather clumsy and they seemed to take quite some time to get the words right.

When they finished writing, they pushed the scroll to the Pale King who picked it up to read. The first word already hit him as hard as one of Ogrim's dung bombs.

"Father...", they had wrote. "I am sorry, I couldn't be pure. I am glad you still accept me. But what about the infection?"

He had underestimated his Vessel. Underestimated them so much. They knew. They understood everything. They perfectly had known what was their purpose. And they also knew that they had been the latest plan.

The Pale King walked around the table and laid a hand on his child's shoulder, rubbing a soothing circle in their back: "I don't know...", he said truthfully, "...but we will find a way."

(Author's note: I originally had planned for this to be a oneshot, but I have the feeling I want to add a few more chapters for this scenario, I just have to figure them out first, so I let it open for the time.

If you are still here reading this note, I would be honoured to hear what you thought about my story. Thank you very much in advance!)


	2. Chapter 2

Summary: The Pale King has to deal with his feelings after his decision to ditch the plan with the Pure Vessel.

(Author's note: It's still hard for me to get in the head of these characters because they are still new for me. And don't ask me how hard it is to write for a being who can't speak and is has a completely expressionless face!

He had tossed and turned in his bed for hours now.

And he had to admit, he doubted he would fall asleep anytime soon. He couldn't stop thinking about them.

No cost to great., that was what he had told himself when he started the void experiments. He had been fully aware of the impact of his doing, what he had put the Vessel through, what he had put his Root through, the things he had done to negotiate with the ones who were supposed to be the dreamers.

And worst of all... the things he had locked in the Abyss...

And it all was because he had make a mistake. He had tried to let one being shoulder the fate of the entire kingdom. And he could consider himself lucky that he noticed how it broke them before it was too late.

But that didn't erase the fact that the infection was still a very real threat and even though he had reassured the Pure Vessel that they would find a way, he had no clue where he should even start.

With a tired sigh, the Pale King got out of bed and walked to his door and when he opened it, he was surprised to see that the Pure Vessel was keeping watch.

They shifted once they saw him and stared at him with this deep dark eye sockets.

"Are you worried about me?", he asked and received a tiny small nod.

"Don't be... this isn't your burden anymore...", he said and walked further, not aware that the gaze of the Pure Vessel followed him until he was out of sight.

He only stopped when he was in front of the White Lady's room. The kingsmoulds appointed to it lowered their weapons once they saw him approaching. It was a good thing that Dryya needed to sleep once in a while or he would have some explaining to do.

The Pale King opened the door and closed it as quiet as possible behind him as he saw his Root peacefully sleeping. He shuffled over to her and snuggled against her stem, closing his eyes.

It didn't take long for her to sense his presence. "Did something happen?", her soothing voice sounded as some of her roots curled around his form.

"Had trouble sleeping...", he answered.

"Do you want to talk about it?", she asked, one of her roots softly stroking his horns.

"I don't know.", he answered, truthfully. "There happened so much in such a short time..."

"You don't have to find the answers right away.", she said as her root lowered down to stroke his shoulders. "You should rest first. Tomorrow will be a new day."

"I just fear that we are running out of time...", he said, feeling himself dozing off. He could always count on his Root to help him falling asleep.

"Don't forget, you are not alone.", the White Lady whispered. "For now, take some time. Reflect about your decisions. I, for one, am very happy that you have let go of this plan."

She very much had hissed that second to last word. He knew that his wife never had been happy with how he had planned to contain the infection, but... trading the life of hundreds for the life of one? He couldn't help but feel incredibly selfish at this decision.

"I guess you are right.", he murmured. "I should try and get some sleep first..."

And before the Pale King fell into a deep slumber, his mind wandered over the events of the day.

The moment he had tossed out the plan to use the Hollow Knight as their container for the infection, it was obvious for the Pale King that he had to tell the others. And his Root was the first one he told.

As he was walking to the White Lady's chambers, the Pure Vessel stumbled behind him. They were either still shaken from nearly being impaled (he shuddered at that memory) or they had forgotten all their training how to keep balance. Or both. Whatever it was, the Pale King felt them stumble and nearly made him fall too when they clutched to his robes.

As he turned around to check on them, their head lung low and he had the feeling they wanted to apologize to him, impossible for them because of their missing voice.

"Do you require some assistance?", he asked and offered his hand to them, them standing there in their usual silence for around ten seconds before they raised their own arm and placed it in his grip, making him able to feel the icy sensation of their void body.

As soon as the Pale King had entered the Room of the White Lady, after he had gotten a surprised stare from Dryya who still was guarding her chambers during the daytime, she had turned her head to greet him and once she saw how he was holding the Pure Vessel's hand, her branches wandered over her mouth and he could see tears glistening in her eyes. Happy tears.

"My Root.", he said and the apologetic tone in his voice was unmissable. "I came to inform you that I have made a terrible mistake."

"I know.", she said, slowly lowering the branches from her mouth, "I am glad that you changed your mind." Her gaze wandered over the Pure Vessel. "Come here, my child.", she said, the Pale King wincing at her openly affection right away. "Let me give you a hug."

The Pure Vessel's blank expression stared at the Pale King for a while before he let go off their hand and just said: "Go to her." They half stumbled half walked and he had to admit, the image of his wife's root curling around them made him feel warm inside.

"My wyrm.", she said, still hugging the Vessel, "While I am more than happy about this turn of events, you have to tell the dreamers about this."

"I suppose so, yes...", he said, still standing near the door, watching the both of them. The dreamers, like they had started to call them, were Herrah, the Beast, Monomon, the Teacher and Lurien, the Watcher.

"I wonder how they will react?," he continued after his train of thoughts had ended. "We have planned this all for this long now... they may be upset that we have to start from zero."

"Lurien and Monomon are loyal members of the kingdom. I am sure they may offer their wisdom to find another way.", the White Lady said, finally letting go of the Vessel. The Pale King noticed that they had reciprocated her hug and their limbs were still holding one of her roots.

"I better write them some letters right away.", the Pale King said and turned around to the door. As the Pure Vessel attempted to follow him, the White Lady stopped them.

"Would you stay with me for a while so we can make up for the lost time?", she asked and as the Pure Vessel looked at him and he nodded at them for it to be alright, he left, thinking about how the Pure Vessel had to learn to not need his permission for anything they wanted to do.

...It was his own fault that they were like this. With him having that far too high expectations of them and them having to hide their emotions to meet them. He should get used to his new role, not only as a king, but also as a father.

The Pale King retreated to his chambers and started to work on the letters right away. In them he basically described that he had made a mistake, that the Pure Vessel wasn't up for the task and instead was accepted as a member of the royal family. Thinking about this, that meant they could be his successor someday? He decided to discuss this with them once they had getting used to their new life.

The last line of the letters comprised that he was truly sorry for his bad judgement and that he would find another way to deal with the infection.

Once the letters were written and sealed, it must have gotten late. As the Pale King left his chambers to give the letters to one of the servants, instructing them to send them out right away, he saw the Pure Vessel among the other five knights (minus Ogrim who wasn't allowed to eat with the others because of the smell) taking in their dinner.

The other knights were casually talking, sometimes dropping a question at the Pure Vessel, not really expecting any kind of response. After all, they called them the Hollow Knight because they usually never showed a reaction.

So the knights were quite stoked when they reacted to a simple question with a nod of their head, nearly falling in their food because they misjudged the weight of their horns.

The Pale King stayed a while as the knights bombarded the Vessel with questions, apparently eager to know more about them. Then he remembered the letters he wanted to send away and left the scene to find a servant to take them.

After the letters had switched possession, he went back to his chambers to take in his own dinner, though he lacked appetite. After he had eaten and a servant got the dishes, giving him a concerned look, probably because of all the leftovers, he paced up and down his chambers, unsure about what he should do.

His pacing got interrupted by a knock on his door and as he went to look who came to visit him this late in the night, he saw the Pure Vessel standing in front of his door, looking at him, as if they wanted to ask if they could come in.

"Um, sure, come in.", the Pale King said. "Anything you want to talk about?", right after he had said that, he wanted to slap himself in the face. Who exactly again had thought that they shouldn't have a voice? "My apologies.", he said as he got a piece of paper and a quill for them.

He sat them on the table, sat down opposite of them and then waited for the scratching of their quill to cease. As they slid the paper over to him he picked it up to read: "Mother asked me how I want to be called. But I don't know my name."

These tiny little words felt like a stab into the heart of the Pale King. The one thing he always had refused to do... giving them a proper name.

"Um, well...", he started. "Why don't you choose your own name? That was what I did when I transformed."

He slid the paper back to them and when they finished writing, he read: "Father, you have a name?"

"Well, I only told it to a few selected ones. Like my Root.", he said. "Most people know me simply as the Wyrm or the Pale King. It is... easier to rule a kingdom when your subordinates don't know your true name."

"Can I know your name?", the next sentence was, written in large, crooked letters, he could practically feel their excitement in their writing.

"Alright, but only if you promise to not tell anyone.", he said and once they nodded, he leaned down to them to whisper his true name to them. He knew that their face couldn't make an expression, them wearing a mask over their true body, made of void, but he could see them shake lightly with excitement.

"But... how do you choose your own name?", was the next thing they wrote.

"You use a word that you like or a syllable that feels right or name yourself after an important figure in your life.", he said. "You don't have to rush it. As long as you don't know, we can keep using the title the other knights have given to you."

"The Hollow Knight?", they wrote.

"Yes, if you are fine with this.", the Pale King said.

They nodded and the rest of the evening was spent with the Pale King showing the Pure Vessel how to improve their writing. He wondered how they should communicate in the future, there wouldn't always be paper and a quill easily available.

When he awoke it became clear for the Pale King, that yesterday hadn't been a dream. He was leaned against his Root and felt her embrace. "Finally awake, my beloved?", she asked and he could see a smile on her face. She hadn't looked this happy in ages.

He himself couldn't share her happiness as the fate of his kingdom came crushing down on him.

"Yes, but I wish I wouldn't have.", he said, slowly getting up. "I will have a lot of explaining to do today..."

"I am with you in your mind.", his root said as she snuggled him one last time. "I plan to unroot myself soon again so that I can stay at your side."

"Thank you, my love.", he said, sighing. He needed to get up and freshen himself up to be presentable and take in some breakfast, but he felt like he wanted to lie in his wife's embrace a little while longer.

"Say, my wyrm.", she suddenly said. "Have you already thought talking about this whole deal with Grimm?"

The Pale King winced at her suggestion. He knew, she was right. The thing they were dealing with was a being that infected others because of dreams and the Nightmare King himself would be the best person to ask for advice, but...

"I don't want to talk to him.", he said, his robed hand rubbing over his face, "He will never let me hear the end of it..."

"I know the two of you had a breakup, but maybe you should think about burying your past and just try, my dear?", she asked and he knew every word of her was meant honestly.

"I think about it after I dealt with the dreamers.", he tiredly said and finally got up to retreat to his chambers so that he could do his morning toilet and get some breakfast.

Before he even managed to get there though a servant approached him.

"Your majesty, you got a letter from deep nest.", they said.

"That was quick...", he murmured and added as he noticed the servant looking him over. "Please bring it to our chamber. We will take care of it there."

The letter left his mind as he spent time freshening himself up and taking in his breakfast but once he was finished and had to start with his royal duties anyway, he noticed the envelope on his desk and took it. He sat down and broke the seal only to be greeted by one single sentence.

"You are not taking Hornet away from me."

"Really, Herrah, that is your only concern?!", the Pale King frowned as he read the line again.

That was when he realized something.

Hornet was the daughter of Herrah. She had gained her as part of the bargain of her becoming a dreamer.

And her request had been more than clear, she wanted to have a child from him.

Which made Hornet his daughter.

And therefore, it made her the Pure Vessel's half sister.

He had the feeling he couldn't deny them their right to meet their little sister. But first, he needed to calm Herrah down and spend a good portion of the morning trying to formulate a letter that sounded like she was in no danger of loosing her child but still would allow the Pure Vessel to meet their sibling.

But... he didn't even knew if the Pure Vessel would want to meet their sister. He simply had assumed it. He should ask them first. And certainly before he send off the letter, it would only give Herrah ammunition against him when he asked her if the Hollow Knight could meet Hornet and then they would deny the offer.

The Pale King left his chambers in search of the Pure Vessel and found them watching the training of the knights, them not allowed yet to partake in it. They still held on that tiny nail that they had used in their child form.

"Say...", he started, prompting them to stop, turning their head around and almost falling over, "Would you like to meet your sister?"

They stared at him for a little while, probably processing what he had said to them before they nodded their head in excitement, falling over and hitting the ground. 

(Author's note:

I completely overlooked that PK speaks canonically in the royal we, but it makes more sense for me when he uses it in his role as the king and not when he is talking with his wife or child, so he drops the royal speech in a more domestic environment.

I headcanon that the White Lady sometimes has to stay rooted to one place to get nutrients and stuff and that is why she is locked to her chambers at the moment. After she has been rooted for a while she can decided to unroot herself to be mobile until she has to root herself again.

I am still struggling with how the Hollow Knight shall communicate in the future. I was thinking either sign language but I don't know if that would be a bug thing, with lots of them not having hands or if they use like a tiny portable table board and some chalk.

What? You want to know PK's true name? Maybe if you ask really really nicely ^^)


	3. Chapter 3

Summary: A story is told. A name is chosen. And a trip is made.

"Are you alright? Let me see your face!", the Pale King helped the Pure Vessel up which had a hand in front of their face. He was certain if they would have been able to make an expression, it would be pain.

The Pale King slowly and gently removed their limbs, flinching once again at the ice cold sensation. This was something he should get used to. As their face came in view, he saw the crack in their mask. "The floor of the White Palace can be rather hard.", he sighed as he raised his own hand and focused soul. The crack healed up promptly under this treatment and he took a step back. "You should be careful with turning around, that still brings you off balance.", he said and got a nod from them. He then remembered why he even had been out, the letter for Herrah.

He turned around to find a Royal Retainer to give it too, only noticing that he had left the Pure Vessel standing there as he intended to return to his quarters and they were still standing where he had left them.

"...Can you come with to me quarters?", he said and the Pure Vessel cocked their head, it looked like a gesture of confusion. The Pale King then realized his "mistake". They weren't used to follow a polite plea, they were used to follow orders.

The real mistake in this case was his old self that had thought that treating his own child like a thing was fine. He cursed at himself for this thought as he felt the so familiar stab of guilt in his chest.

"It... it means that I would like to show you something in my quarters, but you can decide if you want to come or not.", he said, fidgeting with his claws beneath the cloak. He felt how his tail involuntarily clutched his feet, that hadn't happened in a while. One of his common signs for getting nervous.

After what felt like an age of waiting, the Pure Vessel finally nodded. "You want to accompany me to my quarters?", the Pale King asked once again, wanting to confirm if he had read them right. They surely needed to find a way for them to communicate. Another nod.

"Very well then, follow me." This seemed to be more of their liking, because this time they followed him without trouble. As they entered the quarters of the Pale King, the Pure Vessel stepped in, then they stayed in the doorway.

"Please take a seat.", the Pale King gestured to the table and then was quick to prepare some paper and a quill for them so they could communicate. He sat down opposite to them like the day before and cleared his throat, searching for words. "I know this is a lot to take in...", he said. "And... I have no excuse for what I intended to do."

His let his head hang low as these words came out. He wondered why the Hollow Knight didn't hate him. Why they were accepting him as their father. He started to loathe himself at the thought of him delivering the Pure Vessel to the Temple of the Black Egg and then walking away like nothing had happened. Like he fully had intended to do. He felt bile rise at the back of his throat and quickly swallowed it down.

While he had been busy with drowning into self hatred, the Pure Vessel had written something down and pushed over to him. He looked at the words in front of him with dull eyes.

"You did what you thought was right."

Someone like him surely didn't deserve a child like that. They may have been not of the purity he had strived for, but there was certainly another kind of purity in them. A purity that made them even able to forgive their horrible father.

He spend some time trying to regain his composure, his tail had clutched his legs again, so hard that it started to hurt. He forced himself to release them, for his body to relax and took a few deep breathes before he spoke.

"The reason I have called you here.", he started. "I want to ask how much you know. About the state of this world. About the infection."

They looked at him for a split second before they wrote for a while. Once they were finished he picked up the paper and read.

The contents were what he had thought. They were aware that there was an infection that made bugs hostile. They were aware that they were made out of void and came from the Abyss as well as they were his child, obviously. And they were aware that their role had been to act as vessel for the infection and for this purpose they couldn't show their feelings. The last sentence made the Pale King frown a bit. They also had written that they were aware that they had siblings.

He never had introduced Hornet to them and he was sure that they had been the only vessel that climbed out of the abyss. So this last sentence confused him a bit. Siblings? Maybe his root had told them about their stillborn ones though he didn't take his wife as one to say something like this to her own child.

"That is the gist of if, pretty much.", the Pale King confirmed. "But the root of the infection is another story. I will give you the short version, so pay attention."

They leaned on the table as if trying to be closer to his words and he feared that they would fall again, these horns were just too big, but they got a hold on themselves and cocked their head at him in a curious manner.

"When I was still in my original body, I came across this land.", the Pale King started his tale. "I had a certain feeling that I should stop there, so after I spend a while to observe the living creatures in Hallow's Nest, I decided to shed my shell and transform into a form that would make it easier for me to interact with them." His thoughts wandered to the leftover shell in Kingdom's Edge. He had been much larger back then.

"I wandered this land and whenever I came upon a native bug of this country, it felt like they were controlled by a hive mind. I used my powers to grant them free thoughts.", the Pale King told further. "I continued to traverse the lands and free bugs of this hive mind, but then I came upon a clan that already was worshipping a god."

The thought about his old nemesis made his gaze darken and his tail twitch. "She was the source of the hive mind and she was simply referred to as the Radiance."

While the Pale King thought about how to continue his story he didn't noticed that the Pure Vessel had written another thing and only noticed when he felt a nudge, briefly flinching at the ice cold sensation, which made them retract their limb and stare at it in a way that made the Pale King's chest hurt.

"No, don't worry, I was just lost in thought...", he said and picked up the paper to read. It read: "What happened between the two of you?"

"It's actually a rather long story.", the Pale King said, "I will try to reduce it to the bare minimum for now. So in short, we clashed. I was thinking that every bug should be able to decide who to follow of their own free will and she was thinking that everybody would be much happier in her hive mind. So we fought a battle against each other... and she lost this battle and nowadays almost no bug remembers that the goddess named Radiance ever existed."

He grew silent again which the Pure Vessel used as opportunity to write something down. As he picked it up a sad smile flashed over the Pale King's face. "You want to know why we haven't tried to find an agreement? I have tried... I decided to visit there and offer negotiations, but before I could even present my conditions she decided to get rid of me once and for all."

He shuddered at the thought of being hit by her lightning blast, heavy enough to get kicked right out of the dream realm, at the thought of the pain and the memory of the blood he had seen on his claws... slowly realizing it was his blood, slowly realizing that he was dying.

If not for his ability to heal his wounds by focusing soul he would have been done for.

"I survived her attack but it left me bedridden for a good while.", he said. It was Grimm that had helped him back on his feet after this and who also had given him the warning, that it was better not to search a fight with his sister.

"After this I knew that negotiating wasn't working, so I put the fight into finding more followers and slowly but surely Hallow's Nest started to follow me over the Radiance until there was only one clan left who still worshipped her... and even they turned their back to her... "

He of course was talking about the moth clan, the strongest worshippers of the Radiance. Even today he had the feeling that a few of them still believed in the Radiance, but they slowly but surely had started to die out. Nowadays they were barely a moth alive anymore.

The Pure Vessel scribbled another thing: "So the infection is the Radiance?"

"Correct.", the Pale King said, lying the paper down with a sigh. "She's upset about having been forgotten and tries to reach out to form her hive mind again, but because she is so upset every bug that gets touched by her hive mind becomes violent. It is a serious danger for Hallow's Nest. And there isn't any chance for us to change her mind. It wish there would be another way, but she can't continue threatening this kingdom by throwing a temper tantrum. And.. you know what my original plan was..."

"Sealing the infection. Means sealing the Radiance. Inside me."

Seeing it written down like that made him shudder again. "Yes. I wanted to trap her into a being without a mind. The Radiance can only control beings which have a mind. She would have never be able to escape...", he trailed off and didn't finish the words he wanted to say. An empty vessel. This felt just wrong.

And the next thing the Pure Vessel wrote made him feel even worse. "I am sorry I couldn't be pure." He shot up and banged his claws on the table.

"What? No, no, don't apologize. It is not your fault. It was never your fault! It was mine!", he blurted out, breathing heavily, only realizing his outburst when he saw how the Pure Vessel had taken a step back and hugged their tiny nail.

"Sorry, I am sorry...", he said, sitting back down, leaning his head into his hands. "The last few days have been a lot..."

He only looked up when he felt the icy sensation of the void on his back and saw that it was his child that tried to comfort him. Even though it should be the other way round. They stayed like this for a while until he managed to rise and sit straight on his chair again.

"But enough talking about this.", he said. "For now it is enough that you know the truth about the infection. We can talk further about this another time. For now I would like to know another thing. Have you chosen a name for yourself?"

They wrote for quite some time after this, making the Pale King a bit anxious and his claws started to tap on the table as he waited. Once they were finished he read: "I asked the others how they got their names. They said that their parents gave them their names. This means... shouldn't it be you who gives me a name?"

As if he hadn't been anxious before, this felt like a whole another stab in his heart. He had been so close to give them a name. He had thought about fitting names before he went to sleep and then convinced him, that it didn't need a name. It was the vessel. There was no need to name a mere tool. And he had buried every name he had thought up deep into the back of his mind.

He stood up from the table and walked to a window, looking outside. There normally wasn't much to see. The White Palace was build far from the bustling zones, he always had enjoyed some peace and quiet. Some of the kingsmould were patrolling the yard and he he could see Ze'mer and Isma talk to each other.

"I... have forfeited my right to give you a name.", he finally said.

He heard the scribble of the quill for a short while and when he turned around the Pure Vessel was sitting there and presented a piece of paper to him.

"In that case: Call me Hollow."

Hollow... like in their title, the Hollow Knight. With their face that couldn't bear any expression and without a voice as well as their intended purpose it truly felt like the most fitting name for them.

"Hollow.", the Pale King said, "Are you sure about this?"

A shy nod.

"Then Hollow shall be your name from now on.", the Pale King said.

Hollow laid the piece of paper down and hugged their nail again. Had they been worried that he didn't like the name? He had accepted each and any name they had chosen, he was sure of it. He walked back to the table and looked at the nail.

"You are really fond of it. Thinking about it, you have been fond of it since you were a child, but isn't it a bit too small for you now? How about we get you a new one?", he asked.

Hollow looked at their nail for a long while and then cocked their head. "I won't take this one away from you if you want to keep it.", the Pale King said, having the hunch that this weapon was some kind of emotional comfort for them. "But you can't fight with this. And you want to continue your training, right?"

They slowly nodded at his words.

"Perfect. Then let us visit the Nailsmith.", the Pale King said and got up. As they didn't move, he realized that they had never been outside of the White Palace since he had brought them from the Abyss. "It isn't that far away, don't worry.", he said. "Wait...", he rummaged around in his desk until he found a map. He spread it on the table and stood next to Hollow. "See, this is where we are.", he pointed at the White Palace, which was build near the Abyss in the Ancient Basin. "And we have to go to the City of Tears, that isn't too far away. I will help you with climbing up should you get off balance again, alright?"

Their head followed the movements of his claws at the map and they gave another nod. As the Pale King followed their movements he noticed the stag station near the White Palace. While it would be a lot quicker and easier to use it, the stags hadn't approved of his decision to build the tramway at all and he very much preferred to not pay them a visit until absolutely necessary. Besides, he had the feeling that Hollow would appreciate the scenic route. "Now that this is settled, let's leave."

As soon as it had been decided the Pale King went to his root to tell her that he would take Hollow out (she seemed to be delighted about the name) and then left the Palace alongside Hollow, making some of the Royal Retainers turn their head in surprise, he wasn't know for leaving the White Palace very often. Even Isma and Ze'mer who still were in the yard looked at him surprised, asking if he needed a guard, which he denied.

He had enough confidence in his own abilities to not get ambushed by a bunch of infected bugs and besides they only were going to the City of Tears, which wasn't far away. The two knights exchanged a look but let them go.

As expected, Hollow had a few difficulties when it came to climbing the steep tunnels of Hallow's Nest. Their wings didn't provide flight to them, but they possessed a natural skill in jumping and climbing up walls, only that their balance problems were very apparent and instead of climbing up gracefully they struggled to not fall down to the ground and get a nasty crack in their head.

The Pale King had stayed at the ground and called them down once he saw them struggle. "Let me carry you.", he said, unfolding the extra pair of arms he usually hid beneath his robes, which now came in handy to get a good grab on Hollow as he extended his wings to fly up the tunnel that led to the city. He still was glad that void didn't weigh much. It wouldn't have been any trouble in his old body, but he had decided to transform his body into that of a usual bug.

Hollow just let themselves hang limply as he carried them and carefully set them down once they were at the top. After Hollow regained their balance they looked around, seeming to take in all these new sights. The Pale King assumed that they must have a million question, a million questions they couldn't ask because of their missing voice. He just decided to talk a bit about the areas on his own behalf to satisfy their curiosity.

"You can't see them from here, but this path leads to the Royal Waterways, which we use to keep the city clean. It's Ogrim's favourite place.", he told and then pointed to another path. "And this one will lead to the City of Tears. You will see why we call it that once we are there."

Hollow hang to his words when he spoke and looked around when he was silent. The City of Tears was close now and soon they entered it. The Pale King just wanted to tell Hollow where they were headed next when he saw them rush towards the windows build into the city walls, both hands on them, staring at the rain.

Of course being underground weather wasn't a thing and so it didn't surprise the Pale King that Hollow was fascinated by the rain, that wasn't exactly rain, in fact it was the water of the Blue Lake that poured constantly onto the city. He walked over to Hollow and spoke: "Yes, that is the reason why we call it City of Tears. Because of the constant rain that is pouring on it."

Hollow didn't show the slightest inclination to move, all they did was watch the rain, their head going up as they followed the movement of the droplets from up and going down once the droplets fell down. After they did this a few time the Pale King noticed how they started to sway and extended his arm to support them. "It's a quite beautiful sight, isn't it?", he said. He wasn't leaving the palace much. And standing there with Hollow he realized just how beautiful this City was. Or maybe he had forgotten about it during the constant worrying about the infection and the guilt about the Vessels that was eating him from inside. But right here in this moment he felt like he could be at peace.

This peace didn't last long. Naturally the city was bustling with bugs and sentries and every time another bug crossed them, he could hear them gasp and then bow. This continued until there was a small crowd of bugs bowing making him turn around and state: "Our presence here is simply for business reasons. Continue with your every day lives."

He knew that his soft whispering voice was more to the bugs then just a sound, it kind of was able to touch their minds. After he had stated this the bugs started to rise one after the other and continued with whatever they had planned beforehand, though the Pale King could hear some shushed discussions.

"Let us go, Hollow.", he said and Hollow reluctantly averted their gaze from the window, following him, though their brief sadness was replaced with more wonder as they crossed the city and they saw more and more of its beauty. The Pale King wished they would have been able to get to the Nailsmith quicker but he didn't have the heart to deny Hollow to take in the sights and besides, every time they encountered a bug or sentry they bowed to him and he sometimes had to remind them to go back to their duties.

Soon they came along a lone hut from which only the sound of hammering on an anvil was heard. "We are here.", the Pale King said and entered the hut. Once the Nailsmith noticed the visitor he said: "What do you want? I am busy."

"We require your services in forging a new nail.", the Pale King said and the Nailsmith nearly dropped his hammer and swirled around, bowing as he said: "Your majesty... It's a rare sight to see you so forgive my earlier rudeness."

"Your rudeness is forgiven.", the Pale King said and stepped aside to let Hollow come into view. "We would like for you to forge a nail for our companion."

"Of course.", the Nailsmith said. "But you are aware of the rules of the Kingdom. You have to provide the materials and the geo, there isn't an exception, not even for royalty."

"Of course we remember rules we helped to establish ourselves.", the Pale King said and produced an item out of his robes. "This should suffice."

The Nailsmith's eyes seemed to glow once he saw it: "Pale Ore... such a rare material."

"Hollow deserves only the best. We instruct you to forge a nail with this ore. We have the geo you need ready to exchange."

"Of course. It will take a while though, so would you like to come back later or wait?", the Nailsmith said, accepting the Pale Ore and counted down the geo he needed.

"We prefer to wait.", the Pale King said, not being too eager to run into all the bugs outside again. He also had the feeling that Hollow wanted to watch the Nailsmith work.

The Nailsmith led them to nearby table and even provided them with some tea before going to work, the clanging of the hammer a constant source of noise in the house. The Pale King slowly sipped on his first cup while Hollow was already on the third.

"Don't drink too much, there isn't a bathroom nearby...", the Pale King murmured, prompting Hollow to put the teacup down and the Nailsmith to briefly stop hammering and turn around.

"Your majesty, who exactly is your companion?", he asked. "I have never seen them before. They aren't a grub anymore but they don't look like an adult yet."

"Adolescent. They hatched only a few days ago.", the Pale King said. "Their old nail has become to small for them, that is why we are here."

"But who are they?", the Nailsmith asked further, turning his attention back to the smithing. "It's hard to believe that royalty would just bring a random bug into my smithy and request one of the finest nails for them."

"They are...", the Pale King said, looking at Hollow. They had been the Vessel. Now they weren't the Vessel anymore, but something more. "...our child.", he finished.

The noise of the hammer stopped again and the Pale King could hear the Nailsmith audibly gasp. "They are your child? You mean you have an heir?", he asked. "And so big already? Have I missed something?"

Now that he mentioned it... the Pale King would need to make Hollow known to the public. The Nailsmith's reaction was completely understandable but it didn't help the churning anxiety in his stomach. How should he explain why he had kept his own child hidden for so long? He had planned to introduce them as the Vessel who would safe Hallow's Nest and not at his heir. He felt like he should find an excuse.

"They have been born mute and wouldn't be able to speak to the public so we refrained from introducing them yet.", he said, hoping that this would sound convincing enough. The Nailsmith made a sound of agreement and then continued his work. After a while Hollow came closer to be able to watch the Nailsmith work better. It took him a good while to finish but once he was he presented a truly fine nail with a cleft blade.

"This is truly one of my finest works.", he said as he weighed the weapon in his hands before offering it to Hollow, who looked at the Pale King who told them with a nod that it was alright.

Hollow took the nail and weighed it in their own hands, before trying a slash and falling down on the floor at their full length. Not only the Pale King but also the Nailsmith had to chuckle at this sight. "Still off balance, aren't they? It doesn't surprise me, with this horns. They are quite huge."

The Nailsmith glanced at the Pale King for a brief second and he had the assumption that he had stared at his own crown like horns. The Nailsmith helped Hollow up, wincing a bit as he felt their cold body and said: "Training with it should help you regaining your balance. Cherish it. It is a gift from your father after all."

They nodded and the Pale King felt that churn in his stomach once more. It still felt wrong for him to be viewed as Hollow's father. It wasn't like he didn't love them, he was sure of it, it was just... he felt like he didn't deserve this.

"We would like to ask you to keep our and Hollow's relationship a secret until we made it public.", the Pale King said and the Nailsmith bowed and said: "You can count on me, your majesty."

Once they left the shop Hollow looked at their new nail nearly falling over their own feet. "Careful.", the Pale King said. "You are already off balance, you don't need to fall because you ignored where you were walking."

They looked at him and then put the nail on their back, next to their old one they still had insisted to carry around. While the Pale King would have liked to go back to the Palace right away, now that they were in the city it was the right time to get a few more things for Hollow.

"Hollow, I would like to get a few more items for you. Just stay near me and don't say anything when someone talks to you." He needed a few seconds to realize how insensitive this had been. "I apologize, forget about this.", he said, though Hollow didn't seem to be hurt. Maybe because they had lived their whole life without having a voice they didn't view it as a disadvantage.

A while and a dozen bugs bowing before him later the Pale King handed Hollow a small journal and a quill. "Until we found a better way for you to communicate you can write down your thoughts in this.", he said.

Hollow didn't hesitate to open the journal and write something down. When the Pale King took it he read the following words: "Thank you, father."

"Don't mention it...", the Pale King said, warmth swelling up in his chest. Though he was surprised that had been the only thing they wrote. "Aren't you having any questions?", he asked.

After they finished writing and handed the journal to him he read the question he would have at least expected. "Why are you referring to yourself as we when talking to anyone besides mother and me?"

"It's the royal we.", the Pale King explained. "It's the way that royalty talks to their citizens." He then provided to give them a impromptu lesson about royal speech until they arrived at their next destination.

"Here we are.", he said, stopping in front of a tailor shop. "Now that you have grown it is time for you to get some proper robes."

They entered the shop and the bug running it came towards them with a big smile: "Welcome to..." before her smile dropped into an expression of surprise and she deeply bowed: "Your majesty, thank you for blessing my humble shop with your presence."

"Rise.", the Pale King said. Maybe he should show himself in public more often, he felt like an ancient being. In a sense, he was an ancient being, but that fact wasn't relevant at the moment. "We need some robes tailored for our companion here." He presented Hollow to her.

"Of course.", the tailor bug said. "I need to take their measurements so could they please come with me?"

Hollow looked back at the Pale King, the familiar look for his approval and he gave them the now familiar nod. He really needed to get this mindset out of them. Hollow followed the tailor and while the Pale King waited for them to be finished, he could hear how she marvelled over them, especially over their horns and their cold body.

A while later some geo exchanged their owner and Hollow was dressed in an intricate looking white robe that resembled that of the Pale King but left enough room for them to move quickly in it.

"What a good and obedient child. I wish all my customers would be like this.", the tailor said, not knowing that she shoved a nail deep into the Pale King's heart with this words, making him practically running out of the shop leaving a confused bug behind.

"Now that we have everything let's head back to the Palace.", the Pale King said and intended to straight go back but Hollow had other plans or more, they were intrigued by a booth selling sweets. The Pale King only had to give them one glance and then said: "Do you want to try one?" As soon as Hollow was visibly vibrating at the opportunity to try the new food they stood at the end of the queue and managed to be the very first ones once the bugs in front of them noticed who it was who was standing behind them.

On their way to back to the Palace with Hollow eating the sweet in their unique way and feeling like they were happy the Pale King thought to himself that he had made the right decision. 

(Author's note: Headcanon time.

The Pale King's appearance isn't that clear in game, but I headcanon him to look like some bug dragon under this robes, with four arms, legs and a tail as well as wings that he normally not extends so they are invisible and let his robes shine through.

Blood in a bug? They are practically man-bugs so I like to think they have a little blood. Not as much as we but they surely can bleed. The Vessel's can't bleed though, they would leak void instead. It's canon.

Pale King expressing concern that Hollow needed the bathroom? Headcanon that once Vessels start to intake food and/or drinks they also need to pass waste. Just a dumb thing that you can ignore, I just wanted the Pale King to say something typical for a parent.

I don't think the Nailsmith in game is the same that once was in the city. It probably was the Ancient Nailsmith. But the nail he made is one you can get in game. Just larger.)


	4. Chapter 4

Summary: The Pale King finds a teacher for Hollow and thinks about how to end the infection. There is also some anxiety. And then he learns about a new ability of Hollow.

(Author's note: A big THANKS to ruthlesslistener, because of his Hollow Knight crackship I found out WHO exactly could be Hollow's sign language teacher. Y'all haven't forgotten that he was a part of the ancient civilization, right?)

The nearer they got back to the palace the more the thoughts of the still lingering infection crushed down on the Pale King. He had allowed himself to forget it, for a brief moment, for Hollow's sake. At least he tried to convince himself that this had been the case.

There was a lot of work to do and he better started soon, even though he didn't know just where to begin. He was pretty much starting by zero.

He glanced over to Hollow, the thought about them being the plan once again in his mind but as he saw them inspecting their new nail from all sides, a sense of wonder radiating from them, he knew he couldn't act on this plan. More so, he didn't want to act on this plan anymore.

Once again the memory of a thousand dead children rose back to his mind, oh, how much he tried to forget this, but it never went away and he felt a tight feeling in his stomach, asking himself if he would get sick.

Only when he felt the gaze of Hollow on himself did he turn to face them and mutter: "I am fine, don't worry about me."

Hollow didn't question him further and they continued to walk back to the palace in silence, only the sound of their footsteps were heard in the eerie atmosphere of the Ancient Basin.

Still lost in thought the Pale King startled and flinched when a soft voice spoke to him: "Your highness, Hollow Knight, have a good morning."

The voice belonged to Hegemol, the biggest warrior of the five great knights and the most gentle one. "Oh, Hegemol, good morning.", the Pale King muttered, still not really there, and Hollow gave him a bow.

"Is that a new nail I see there, Hollow Knight?", Hegemol asked and Hollow nodded enthusiastic and presented the weapon to Hegemol who took a look.

"That is some fine work, from the blacksmith in the city, I guess?"

Hollow nodded again which made the Pale King remember that they still had to find a way for them to communicate more properly than having to write everything down. Hegemol was considerate enough to ask them question they could answer with a nod or a shake of their head, but not everyone would be so thoughtful.

"I can sense it. You are itching to try this nail out, aren't you, Hollow Knight?", Hegemol asked.

"They are fine with being called Hollow.", the Pale King chimed in, briefly having forgotten that their new name wasn't public yet. Or that they were his child. Or that he had threw the plan out off the window. Really, only his root and the dreamers knew about it. And Hollow obviously.

"A nice name.", Hegemol said. "So, Hollow, how about we spar with each other?"

Hollow nodded again at Hegemol's question but then looked over to the Pale King. Ah, they were asking for his permission again. One day he had to sit them down and explain this whole thing to them, but that day wasn't today.

"Feel free to spar with Hegemol.", the Pale King said. "We have things to attend to in the palace anyway. But, Hegemol, please be careful, they are still off balance."

"Of course, your highness, but a good sparring can help find your centre of balance quicker. I will make sure not to hurt them."

"Have fun then, Hollow.", the Pale King said, walking to the entrance of the palace, not noticing the stares Hegemol gave him at his last remark.

Once the Pale King had entered the palace a royal retainer approached him. "Your majesty, you have returned. In your absence we have received a letter from Deepnest as well as a letter from the Watcher. Also a messenger from the teacher has arrived that asked for an audience."

The Pale King bit back a sigh. He wanted nothing more to go into his workshop and find out something, anything about how he could tackle the infection, but it seemed like there was more diplomatic work to do first.

"We will talk to Monomon's messenger first.", he said. "Deliver the letters into my quarters. Where is the messenger now?"

"In one of the waiting rooms.", the retainer said.

"Bring them into the small conference room, we will talk with them there.", the Pale King said before heading into the direction of the aforementioned room. He wondered what Monomon wanted to talk about that she send a messenger instead of a letter.

After the Pale King had sat down at the table in the conference room he didn't had to wait long until there was a knock at the door and the royal retainer led the messenger inside. It was a pill bug having his head wrapped in a scarf and carrying a nail. In fact, the Pale King recognized this bug as Monomon's personal assistant from the rare times he had visited the archives or the times she had brought him with her into the palace. That he felt the need to carry a nail for protection against any infected bug pained the Pale King a bit.

"Your majesty, good morning. Thank you for meeting me.", the pill bug said, giving him a bow. "I am Quirrel, Monomon's personal assistant."

The Pale King had been right then, he just had forgotten the name. Or never got it, he wasn't know for talking to his subjects a lot. He started to ask himself if he hadn't give the vessels a voice so that they couldn't cry suffering or if it was because of his own distaste of having to talk with others.

"What is Monomon having to talk about so that she feels having to send a messenger?", the Pale King cut right to the case, pretty much ignoring basic politeness. It wasn't even noon yet and he already felt a headache coming. "We believe that a written response to our letter would have sufficed."

"...She wrote a letter.", Quirrel said, putting one on the table in front of the Pale King. "But... see for yourself."

The Pale King picked up the latter, started reading and immediately knew what Quirrel was talking about. "...She wrote it in her code."

For some reason, Monomon tended to write down information that weren't poetry in a strange code that didn't make any sense to anybody but her... and probably her assistant.

"Yes.", Quirrel said, "That is why I felt it was better to deliver the letter personally and translate it for you, your majesty. I must apologize for the inconvenience, Monomon didn't listen to me when I told her that she should rewrite the letter. She was completely engrossed into her work."

Even though it was just an explanation for the current situation, the Pale King felt a chill in his body. He remembered the times where he had stayed days in his workshop and refused to come out, not listening to anything what was said to him and only eating when his Root had came and gently forced him.

Why had he never realized just what a mess he had become over the last years?

"Your majesty, are you feeling quite alright..?"

The question of Quirrel snapped the Pale King out of his thoughts. "Yes, our apologiies.", he said. "Would you tell us about the contents of the letter?"

"Gladly.", Quirrel said and picked the letter up. "The first part basically is her telling you what a wonderful experience it is to have children and that you should raise them with all your heart."

Another harmless thing that made the Pale King feel like someone had stabbed him with a nail. The sickly feeling in his stomach from earlier arose again. Oh, he had raised Hollow, but he had given his best to not view them as a child and raise them as obedient little knight instead.

Besides, the children who never made it out of the abyss hadn't even been that lucky...

"Please continue.", the Pale King said as Quirrel gave him a questioning look. Was his inner turmoil really that obvious? As long as his breakfast stayed inside of him everything should be fine.

"And in the second part she talks about that she is glad that you decided to find another way battling the infection though she still will offer her services as a dreamer should you change your mind, but she hopes that it won't be necessary. She also offers any help that she can give in this trying times and you shouldn't hesitate to search her advice out.", Quirrel finished.

"We see... thank you for delivering this message.", the Pale King said and there were a few seconds of silence. Of course, he had to dismiss Quirrel or he wouldn't be allowed to leave, but... he maybe already required Monomon's assistance.

"Before we dismiss you, could we ask you to deliver Monomon a question?", the Pale King said.

"Of course, your majesty.", Quirrel said.

"We are searching for a way for someone who can't talk to communicate.", the Pale King said. "Surely Monomon has some knowledge about this..."

"Your majesty, if you allow me to speak.", Quirrel said and the Pale King gestured with his robed arm for him to continue. "I am quite versatile in different languages and one of my researches was about non verbal communication."

That piqued the king's interest: "Would you say you are knowledgeable enough to teach someone how to communicate non verbally?"

"Certainly.", Quirrel said. "Though the learning speed depends on their knowledge of the language."

"They can read and write.", the Pale King said, still amazed that Hollow had taught themselves to write. Or had someone taught them?

"Then it shouldn't be any trouble at all, they already have a grasp on the language, they only need to learn how to express it differently.", Quirrel said. "Who is it you wish to learn non verbal communication?"

"Our child.", the Pale King said. "Formerly known as the Pure Vessel. We ask you to act as their teacher for non verbal communication."

"Certainly.", Quirrel said, got up and bowed to the Pale King. "Please allow me to write a letter to Lady Monomon about this so that she knows about my whereabouts."

"Of course...", the Pale King said before remembering and added: "You are dismissed."

Quirrel gave him a last bow and left the room. The Pale King picked up Monomon's letter and decided to head to his quarters to take a look at the letters from Herrah and Lurien.

He read the letter from Herrah first. Unlike the last one she spared a few more words and he was delighted to see that she would allow Hollow to see Hornet, but she wouldn't come to the palace and instead he should bring Hollow into Deepnest and also he had to tell her they would be coming a day before they departed.

Now that Herrah's duties as a dreamer wasn't needed anymore she very much was back at being the queen and ruler of Deepnest and the Pale King already shuddered when he thought about all the diplomatic talk that would have to be done in order to not make Deepnest invade Hallow's Nest. Even though the mantis tribe would stay guard, with the growing infection even they might struggle.

He would answer Herrah once he had talked to Hollow about going to Deepnest and picked up the letter of Lurien. The watcher wasn't as thrilled about the plan being cancelled, from the three dreamers the only one who very much expressed distaste and asked the Pale King to think this all over. He genuinely seemed to believe that with Hollow containing the infection the city would be safe.

And the Pale King had believed this himself once. Had seen it actually with the gift of foresight that the wyrms possessed. Until the moment he had seen his child flinch in fear... from himself nonetheless.

Thinking about his foresight, he hadn't watched into the future a long time now. It was a difficult thing. There were so many strings and turns that it was hard to determine if the seen future would come true... He only could put his faith into this ability and hope for the best. But now, it felt like him relying on his foresight was what had put all of his regrets into motion in the first place.

Abandoning the letters for now the Pale King walked into his workshop, deep in thought. Instead of starting to work however, on finding a solution, he sat down, curling his tail around one of the chair legs.

He wanted to be absolutely sure. And so he closed his eyes and concentrated his mind on the strings that would show the future, trying to find the one that would show him the future if he would revert back to the original plan.

What he saw wasn't pretty. That certainly was the shape of Hollow he could make out, they were kept in chains of binding and... the infection leaked out of them, they were in a terrible shape and they looked like they were in pain, in so much pain.

The Pale King had seen enough and he cut his foresight off, not wanting to see this a single second longer, breathing heavily. The headache that he had felt coming earlier now was very apparent in his head.

Why had he never seen this outcome once he started with the plan? Had he been so blind to it all? Had he truly believed that the good outcome would happen? He knew just how many different things the future hold but instead of using his gift to check them out, he had decided to focus on solely one and had convinced himself that he would bring every sacrifice possible to achieve this future.

The Pale King had enough of his foresight for now. He stood up and paced up and down the workshop, thinking. Just how could the infection be battled? Sealing it was out of the question. The very reason he had created the vessels was that he had needed a construct that was strong enough to contain a god or he could have just used a kingsmould. That the vessels had been born of god and void had been rather important.

Though this didn't help him anymore. He wouldn't create another vessel and besides Hollow there weren't anymore left. He had seen them. Most of them had died before they hatched, a few of them had cracked right after hatching and the rest... that was the hardest memory, the rest had fallen down to their deaths by trying to climb out of the abyss.

Only Hollow had made it and after he had taken them out he had sealed the abyss, the shame and regret of all the dead children at his hands heavy on his mind. He hadn't been down there anymore since he had taken Hollow home.

No, he needed to tackle this issue differently. He needed to start with the infection. What was it he knew about the infection? That it was the Radiance' doing. The Radiance was a god ruling over the dream realm. And because of that she spread the infection in bug's minds while they dreamed. As a Higher Being himself he was safe from the infection and Hollow, well, void didn't dream. At least he thought that. He needed to ask Hollow about this. He knew so painfully little about them and it was all his own fault.

The problem with the infection though was... once a bug's mind was infected they were no coming back, not even his voice could reach them anymore and the Radiance even was able to infect the shells of dead bugs and puppeteer them as she pleased. Sooner or later they.. he would be overpowered and she would reclaim the kingdom, built on mountain of corpses.

As if you are any better., a voice whispered in the back of his mind and he felt the churning in his stomach again. At least my crimes tried to save the kingdom., he thought to himself. It didn't feel very convincing.

No matter how he looked at it, Hallow's Nest would never have peace with the Radiance still around. The only solution he had was very clear: The Radiance needed to be defeated.

But how? The Pale King still had the pain in his mind when she had nearly killed his younger self and he hadn't even intended to fight her, simply negotiate with her back then. While it pained him to admit it, but he was no match for her, especially because she needed to be encountered in the dream realm, not possessing a form for the physical realm, whenever she needed to talk to her subjects (if she even needed to do it, they were a hive mind anyway), she would just do it by talking through one of the moths.

The Pale King picked up some chalk and walked over to a board at one of the walls in the rooms, starting to jot down some ideas and draw up some ideas for spells but he felt like he was going nowhere, more than often erasing what he had on the board and starting over. He was so lost in this task that he didn't hear the knock at his door and only noticed it when a second more vigorous knock sounded.

"We are busy, come back later.", he cut the one outside the door off, but they apparently weren't having it and the door clicked open. The Pale King turned around, annoyed, hissing: "We told you we were busy." but every aggression he felt fell when he saw Hollow standing in the door frame. And next to them was his root.

"My wyrm.", she said, an icy tone in her voice. "Are you aware of how late it is?"

The Pale King didn't answer at first, judging by the tone of her voice it could very well be that he had pulled an all-nighter. Like.. it had happened a lot when he had started to work with void. "I... don't know...", he finally said.

"Late enough that you have skipped lunch and dinner.", his root said and then she turned her attention to Hollow. "See, this is what I talked about. He gets so obsessed over his work that he forgets everything, eating, sleeping, which time it is... and you can't just go away when he tells you."

And there was the churning in his stomach again, of course Hollow would follow anything he said to them, he had raised them to follow his orders and they wouldn't even intervene when his self destructive habits would take over. He put down the chalk he still had been holding and breathed slowly in and out.

Thinking about it, the churning feeling in his stomach probably had been partly hunger. He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and while as a higher being he could survive on soul he hadn't absorbed any soul in a while either.

"I am glad to see that you successfully uprooted yourself, my root.", he said, acting like the conversation about his self destructive habits hadn't taken place. "And Hollow, how was your training with Hegemol?"

Hollow pulled out the journal and scribbled down in it for a little bit before handing it over.

"It was great. I managed to try out my new nail. I only fell over five times."

The Pale King frowned a bit and looked Hollow over at the last comment but he couldn't see any cracks in their shell and not even the robe was dirty. He assumed that they had healed themselves and that Hegemol had told them to take off the robes before training. Maybe besides robes an armour also would be into place?

The Pale King gave the journal back and said: "That is good to hear." Then he remembered about Quirrel and that he would be able to teach Hollow non verbal communication. "By the way, Hollow, I found someone that agreed to teach you a way of non verbal communication. I could introduce him to you right away."

"Mealtime first.", his root chimed in and he could feel one of her branches on his shoulder and knew he didn't had a say in this. She would force him to eat if he refused. Gently, but she would still make sure that he would eat.

"After we had dinner then.", he said defeated.

"Good, then let's all go together.", the White Lady said. "Because Hollow here refused to eat until you would come out." She gave him a look and the Pale King just knew that she didn't approve that his destructive habits already bled over on their child.

"My apologies...", the Pale King muttered, finally coming out of his workshop.

"Then let's go. I have let one of the side rooms prepared for us to take in our dinner.", the White Lady searched with her branch for the Pale King's claw and as he took it he could feel the warmth radiating from her.

A short while later the three of them had sat down at a small table where a meal was prepared. The Pale King only now realized just how hungry was but still ate slowly and in a regal manner, even though his only company were his wife and his child. Hollow ate their food in their own unique way and the Pale King caught himself glancing over to them again and again, trying to just figure out what they were doing, one day he should just ask, but was distracted when he realized that his root was eating too.

"Root, normally after you rooted yourself you don't need food for a while.", he said.

"This is correct, but any food I take in still gets stored in my roots for later consumption.", the White Lady said. "Also, I missed the taste of it. Besides..." Her gaze wandered over to the table and got stuck at Hollow. "...I always was hoping we could take in a meal like this... as family."

That was the final nail in his chest for the Pale King's anxious feeling over the whole day. He stopped eating and put down his fork, muttering, to nobody in particular: "I am sorry... for me needing so long to find out... for me thinking I was doing the right thing... for me... trying... to save the kingdom, but... failing..." The last word came out with a shuddered breath as he put his head in his claws and curled his tail around himself.

"My wyrm, look at me.", he could feel the warmth of his Root and her embrace. "You did what you thought you had to do."

He looked up to see into her face, that beautiful face he had fallen in love with and flinched when he felt Hollow's ice could touch on his back, briefly flaring his wings until he noticed that they weren't a threat. He turned around to see them presenting their journal and the words in them: "Father, it's not your fault, it's mine. I should have been pure, but I wasn't."

"Hollow, no, don't say that.", the Pale King said. "It's not your fault, it was never your fault. My plan was flawed from the very start. You have nothing to do with its failure."

They closed the journal and looked down, as if not being convinced by his words but then simply joined the embrace. Being basked into the warmth of his root and the cold of his child was a very weird feeling and after a while it even put the Pale King into a rather light mood.

"You are suffocating me with your body temperatures.", he jokingly said and Hollow was the first to let go, the Pale King almost beating himself up for this remark, of course they wouldn't get a joke but his root saved it.

"He meant it in good way.", she explained before ending her embrace. "Are you feeling better now, my wyrm?"

"Yes, my apologies.", he muttered. "I didn't want to ruin our family dinner."

"There is still plenty of food left.", the White Lady said and soon after they went back to eating and the atmosphere was a lot calmer and the Pale King even managed to relax.

After they were done with eating and were enjoying a cup of tea together, the Pale King spoke again: "My root, do you know by chance where Monomon's messenger is right now?"

"The little pill bug? I gave him permission to use the library, he wanted to keep working on his research when his services weren't needed.", the White Lady said.

The Pale King set his empty tea cup down and addressed Hollow: "Then let us go see him before it is time for you to go to bed."

"You better go to bed too today, my wyrm.", the White Lady threatened. This meant, no all-nighter for him in the workshop today. She would find him and remove him from his work, regardless how much he would fight against her, she had her methods to make him fall asleep. It wasn't the first time that the Pale King assumed sleeping spores.

"What are you planning to do now, my root?", he asked.

"I will spend some time with the knights and let them fill me in about the events while I was rooted.", she said. "Dryya tells me to the best of her abilities but we all know she isn't talking that much."

Both the Pale King and Hollow nodded at this before they left the room, saying their good byes to the White Lady. Quirrel was in fact found in the library where he was enthusiastically working. The Pale King was sure he had never seen another bug which was that positive.

Once the Pale King had entered the library, Quirrel looked up from his work and bowed: "Your majesty."

"We are here to introduce you to our child.", the Pale King said and stepped aside so that Hollow came into view.

"Hollow, this is Quirrel, he will be your teacher for non verbal communication. And Quirrel, this is Hollow... current heir of the throne." It felt strange saying this but at the same time it also felt good. The more the Pale King accepted Hollow as his child the more he had the feeling he might be able to move on.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, pale heir.", Quirrel said.

Pale heir, now that sounded like an official title and made the Pale King a tiny bit uncomfortable. One day he had to get Hollow to the public... but he wasn't ready now. And neither seemed to be Hollow because they opened their journal and showed something to Quirrel.

"Well then, Hollow, then please just address me as Quirrel.", Quirrel said. "Do you have any important business to do right now or would you like to have a first lesson for sign language right away?"

Hollow glanced over to the Pale King and he knew that they wanted to hear more about it, he could feel it from their stare alone. "We can stay and attend your first lesson.", the Pale King said, leaning against a bookshelf.

"Great.", Quirrel said and cleaned up his work space in lightning speed, amazing the Pale King.

"We could use an assistant like you in the workshop.", he muttered more to himself, not being aware that he was heard.

"By living and working with Lady Monomon I had to learn how to make space for more research quickly.", Quirrel cheerily said. "Let's begin the lesson, shall we?"

Hollow nodded and sat down, practically bouncing with excitement.

"When it comes to sign language there are different versions.", Quirrel started. "Because not every bug possesses fingers. I myself have four of them. What about you, your majesty?"

The Pale King pulled his sleeve back to reveal his clawed hand. "Claws.", he said, "But four like you. I can move them freely."

"Hollow?", Quirrel said and Hollow was staring at their "hands". Or stubs what it was. These clearly weren't fingers they were possessing.

"Ah well, I guess we have to use the simplest form of sign language then...", Quirrel started but Hollow shook their head and stared at their stubs. The void at them started to swirl and it looked like it melted, making not only Quirrel but also the Pale King staring in shock. Their void body wasn't supposed to be melting, the worst thing that could happen was their shade cracking through their shell. The Pale King straightened his posture, ready to stop Hollow but then a popping sound was heard and they... had gained fingers.

They made a little excited jump at their success and the Pale King was at their side in a flash. "Hollow, that is amazing! You can change your body!", he said, taking their newly formed fingers into his own claws, examining this. "What else can you do? Did you know you could do this all this time? Is that how you eat?"

"Ahem.", the voice of Quirrel came. "I am glad that you are so supportive of your child's ability, but I believe we wanted to hold a lesson."

"Our apologies.", the Pale King said and went back to lean against the shelf while Hollow did the same thing with their other stub, now possessing two very functioning hands, flexing the fingers for a bit.

Quirrel smiled at both of them and then said: "Then let us properly begin." 

(Author's note: So, a question for my readers. I was thinking about including some of the other vessels in this fic, the one we saw in game with a less than happy ending. They wouldn't play the largest roles, but I started to develop them in my mind and I would really like to include them. The main focus would of course still stay with PK and Hollow.

Alright and now the usual "headcanon time":

I like to think that Monomon was quite of an airhead. A brilliant mind, but more often than not she would have her head in the clouds. That is why she wrote the letter in code absentmindedly, the same code you see in the lore tablets in the archives.

As a plant I like to think that White Lady don't really have to eat when she roots herself, getting all the energy from the ground, but she still likes the taste and can store eaten food as like emergency energy.

Hollow's shape shifting abilities? Actually canon, look at Pure Vessel's void tendril attack. I really like the little stubs of the child vessels but I don't think that they would just gain fingers by transforming, that is a deliberate choice. For how Hollow was wielding their nail before they had fingers? By curling the stub around, like we see in game with Ghost or Broken Vessel.

Also, I had planned to make this family dinner scene just fluffy, but NOPE, sudden angst!)


	5. Chapter 5

Summary: The Pale King wants to confront Hollow about their behaviour and learns a few things himself.

(Author's note: It's sad bug hours.

Seriously, I planned for them to leave for Deepnest soon, but that fic got a mind of its own and suddenly something very different happened. I am so sorry to let you wait for Baby Hornet so long, I promise she will come up soon.)

The Pale King had to admit that the impromptu lesson in sign language was rather interesting. Quirrel mainly taught Hollow about the basics first, that it was possible to spell out every single letter of the Hallownest alphabet, but it was far more common to sign out words and he started with a basic rundown of often used words as well as a few commonly used phrases. The Pale King found himself mimicking the showed signs with his own claws, his attention half at the lesson and half at the time when he still had been a fully grown wyrm, which didn't had fingers or a need to sign. He was able to verbally talk or just send his thoughts right into the mind of whoever stood before him.

While he still was able to do the latter, in his current form sending his thoughts out would get people to worship him, not wanting to communicate. He also doubted (and hoped) that Hollow hadn't inherited this ability. He wondered what they had inherited from him. Looks obviously, that face and horns didn't lie about just who their father was. A tight control over soul. Anxiety. Alright, that last one wasn't the best thing to inherit. The Pale King shook himself out of his thoughts and concentrated fully on the lesson and his child in front of him again.

Hollow seemed to absorb everything Quirrel said, their gaze stayed firmly at his hands and they signed the shown words back flawlessly when Quirrel prompted them to do so. After a while of watching his child the Pale King's gaze shifted to Quirrel and it felt like the pill bug seemed to enjoy teaching Hollow, there was just such a particular shine around him. It felt like he already had took a liking to them, which made the Pale King glad. He was worried that it would be hard for them to get accepted, due to their void nature. Which was his fault. Ah, there was his anxiety again. He went back to trying out the signs Quirrel showed until Hollow's finger wavered and seemed to loose form.

"It's time for bed, Hollow.", the Pale King said from the back and came closer to lay an arm around Hollow.

"It's rather late.", Quirrel admitted. "We can continue this tomorrow. Hollow, your majesty.", Quirrel gave both of them a bow.

"Let's get you into bed, Hollow.", the Pale King said and they gave him a little nod before he led them out of the library and to their room. Would it have been earlier, before he had accepted them as his child, he wouldn't have come in with them, just put them down in front of the room and went away, but this time he found himself opening the door and waiting as Hollow got ready for bed.

Once they had climbed into bed, they forced their fingers to manifest another time and signed words which he did recognize as: "Good night, father."

It put a smile on the Pale King's face, he was proud of just what a quick learner they were. Once Hollow's head hit the pillow and he could hear their breathing evening out, implying just how tired they had been, he tucked them in and rested a hand on one of their horns, whispering: "Sleep tight, my child."

He stayed seated on the bed for a few minutes longer before he remembered that he had promised his Root to also go to to bed timely this night instead of pulling an all nighter trying out how to solve the infection without anything in mind. On his way to his chambers he encountered Quirrel again, who was cleaning his nail and seemed to have waited for him, because he said: "Can I talk to you for a minute, your majesty?"

"What is it?", the Pale King asked, a knot forming in his chest.

"I wanted to ask for a schedule for the sign language lessons. You are surely busy and it would be better for Hollow to have a clear idea when lessons happening.", Quirrel said and the knot of anxiety dissolved in the chest of the Pale King, he had expected something more concerning. Mostly about Hollow. Though this conversation reminded him that he had neglected his duties as the ruler of Hallownest sorely lately and his royal retainers would probably not let him off the bat any longer.

"We need to take a look at our schedule before we can decide.", he said. "We will come back to you tomorrow."

"Very well, then.", Quirrel said and shouldered his nail, though instead of walking away, he continued talking: "May I ask another question? About Hollow?"

And there was the knot in the Pale King's chest again. He knew he could easily decline it, but concern won over and he heard himself say: "What is your question? Is something wrong with them?"

"Not physically, as long as I am aware.", Quirrel said. "I am not really suited to answer this questions, with their body being different. I wanted to point out... during the lesson they were surely eager to learn and very interested in it, but... they never would act without a prompt. They always would wait for me, or you, to tell them that they could act now. This behaviour... is concerning. I... just wanted to ask if you are aware of it."

The Pale King sighed, that Hollow would never act on their own was his own fault and again and again he got reminded of it, though Quirrel was the first one to point it out to him. Surely Monomon's influence.

"We are aware of this behaviour.", he replied. "We also have to admit that this is our own fault." He didn't knew why he added the last sentence, it wasn't like Quirrel needed to know. It wasn't like anyone needed to know how wrong he had raised his child. "We want to work on it, but we first wanted to give Hollow some time to find themselves."

"I understand.", Quirrel said. "I thank you for being so honest with me, your majesty, but...", Quirrel seemed to search for words, "It isn't my place to talk about it, but I wanted to tell you, for children it is important to have clear guidance from their parents while they also feel that they can decide for themselves, especially at Hollow's age. May I suggest that you ask Lady Monomon for advice?" Quirrel looked at the Pale King and then adjusted his bandana. "Ah, but it's getting late, my apologies for keeping you up for so long. We will see each other at the next lesson for Hollow."

He left and the Pale King looked after him for a while, thinking. He had to admit, he feared that he could influence Hollow any further and because of this had avoided to talk to them about their behaviour. It certainly was a behaviour that he was annoyed with, but it was his own fault that they were locked into listening to orders and after what he had planned for them, he felt more than bad getting mad at them for something that was his own fault. He knew, it couldn't continue like this, he had to confront them about it somewhen and better sooner or later before it became too engraved in their head and would be impossible to unlearn. That paired with the fact that almost nobody knew yet that Hollow was his child and heir and that further paired with the fact that the infection was still lingering and threatening the whole kingdom. These thoughts followed the Pale King as he went to bed and after an hour of just tossing and turning instead of sleeping he found himself in his Root's chambers and leaned against her towering form, feeling how her branches embraced him in her sleep, helping him drifting off to sleep.

When he awoke early the next day his Root was already awake and gently stroked his wings. "When I said I wanted you to sleep, I meant in your own bed, but at least you got some sleep, so I won't complain.", she said. "Do you want to talk about what kept you up? Is it the lingering infection?"

The Pale King pulled himself up but still leaned against her stem. "This time it is Hollow.", he said.

"What is troubling you about our child?"

Our child. The way she said it made it feel so real and still, he felt like he barely had the right to call himself the father of said child nor deserve the love they had for him.

"You probably noticed that Hollow will never act on their own unless prompted or just... follow everything you say to them literally?", the Pale King murmured.

The White Lady stopped stroking his wings. "Yes, yes, that I have.", she said coldly. "Just yesterday to be precise. Several times."

"It's my fault that they are like this.", he said, face buried in his claws. It was early morning and he already felt a headache coming. "I want for them... to unlearn it, but at the same time, I am afraid about confronting them about it. After what I had planned for them and everything. I still can't believe they don't resent me."

"My wyrm, isn't that obvious.", the White Lady lifted him up and placed him on her lap... what counted as her lap, it was never clear to say with her plant like body. "You have loved them from the start and they knew it. That is why they can show their feelings to you so openly, now that the burden of their mission isn't on them anymore."

"...I hate how right you are with this...", the Pale King said, meaning that he also was the reason that the Pure Vessel turned out to be, well, impure. He didn't regret his choice, accepting Hollow as his child had brought him a lot of joy so far, but there was also a lot of insecurity and anxiety. He just wasn't used to this whole parenting stuff. Especially because for his own race, it was usual to feed the younglings and then kick them out of the nest once they were strong enough to find their own territory to rule over. "I guess... I am afraid that I could do something wrong. Erm, more wrong than I did beforehand.", he concluded his thoughts out aloud.

"My wyrm, you aren't alone in this.", the White Lady snuggled him a bit more and he let himself relax in her touch, she always managed to make him feel better. "I am here too and there are bugs you can ask for help. Bugs that already raised children. Monomon for example. Did you know that she found her assistant as little grub and raised him herself?"

What? Monomon surely hadn't ever mentioned this and Quirrel still called her Lady Monomon, which didn't imply a family relationship between the two. He shook his head to answer her question. "I thought so. He told me himself yesterday when I went to talk to him. He speaks in very high regards of Monomon and it doesn't hurt you to get out more. It will also be better for Hollow to not be stuck in here all the time. I already plan to take them with me to the gardens."

The thought of his Root taking Hollow to the garden made the Pale King a bit uneasy and he felt like he wanted to go with them should she take Hollow out on a trip, though Hollow surely would be fine without him for a day. Or... was it the other way around? Was it him that didn't want to be alone? Had he already become so dependent on his child?

"You are the second person to bring Monomon up in this regard.", he said. "And as much as I enjoy being cuddled by you, Root, shall we get some breakfast?"

"A wonderful idea, my Wyrm.", she said and gently put him down, getting up to her full height, offering one of her branches to the Pale King which he took into his claws and left her room with her. Dryya had started to guard it in the meantime and gave them both a bow when they left, though the Pale King felt that she narrowed her eyes at his sight. She had always been his Root's knight and didn't approve of this nightly visits, even though the both of them were married.

The White Lady gave Dryya a friendly greeting but the Pale King had his mind more at the prospect of getting his morning coffee soon. Though he had gotten some sleep in his Root's embrace, it hadn't been too much. On their way to the mess hall the couple encountered Hollow.

They had formed their fingers again and signed what he Pale King recognized as "Good morning."

"Good morning, Hollow.", the Pale King said.

"Good morning. Do you want to take your breakfast with us?", the White Lady said and once again the Pale King saw how they looked at him. He sighed, the talk about their behaviour shouldn't be put off any longer, though it surely could wait after breakfast.

"Please come and join us at our breakfast.", the Pale King said. It didn't sound too much like an order but was clear enough for Hollow to follow them without further ado.

The three of them could take in their breakfast at peace, the Pale King was especially glad about his morning coffee, pure black and strong, which finally woke him up completely for the day. Hollow seemed to take some interest in his morning beverage, but the White Lady just shook her head and told them that it tasted far too bitter, that made their interest in the coffee dwindle. Good, because the Pale King hadn't intended to share, but he had the feeling that he had gotten weak would Hollow have asked. Oh, who was he kidding, they wouldn't have asked, the would have waited for him to offer them to taste it.

Once they were done eating and all three of them left the room, the Pale King turned to Hollow and said: "Hollow, I need to talk with you.", but before he could say when and where, his Royal Retainers showed up and it was apparent that they had work for him. "Uh, later then, Hollow.", the Pale King said as he tried to process all the informations the retainers had for him.

The work for the Pale King had piled up a good deal the few days he had mainly taken care of Hollow, both to teach them how to keep their balance and the days where he had started to treat them like his child, so to his disdain he didn't found any time to talk with Hollow during the day nor finding time to work on the infection. At least he could set up a schedule with the retainers which left the evenings free for him, which he would use for Hollow's sign language lessons and the rest of the evenings (and a few nights if his Root wouldn't find out), would be spend finding a way to fight infection.

Several coffees later, which would make any bug jittery but the Pale King just able to stay awake during the day, he was just used to it so much already, evening finally rolled and after the sign language lesson he finally had time to talk with Hollow as he walked them to their room.

"So, I wanted to talk with you.", he said as Hollow sat themselves on their bed, their gaze directed at him. "Um... it's not easy for me to bring this up, but...", the Pale King was at a loss for words. How should he tell them he wanted them to stop doing what he taught them in the first place?

"Hollow, what do you want?", he asked instead.

They cocked their head and then signed two words: "Make. Father. Happy."

Oh no, that was too cute, but completely missed the point.

"I mean... I am glad that you think about me, but... I want to know what you want. What would make you happy."

Hollow looked at their fingers for a while and then got out the journal, the answer probably was too complicated for the rudimentary sign language they had learned so far.

"I am happy as long as I can make you happy.", they had wrote and they looked far too proud as they presented the notebook to him.

"Hollow, that's not what I mean...", the Pale King sighed and sat himself on the bed next to them. "Imagine for a moment that I wouldn't exist. What would you do then?"

Apparently, he had said the wrong thing because Hollow started to shiver and then signed: "Not leave."

"What?! No, child, I don't plan on leaving.", the Pale King said, laying a hand over their shoulders, flinching at their icy body, but left it there until they calmed down. "Just, uh, theoretically. What would you do if you didn't had myself there to make happy?"

They thought for a bit and then wrote again. What they presented made the Pale King's blood freeze in his veins: "I don't know. I thought I would be the Vessel. I thought I would contain the infection. I never thought about anything that wouldn't be me the Vessel. I tried not to think about anything."

"I am sorry.", the Pale King just said, rubbing circles in Hollow's back, taking care to not accidentally hurt them with his claws. Hollow picked up their quill again to ask a question.

"How did you decide to become King?"

Well, that was an unexpected question. "...It's in my nature.", the Pale King told them. "It's the nature of wyrm's to rule. I was searching for my kingdom and travelled to many places. Then I found it here." What he didn't told them was, that he had literally died in this kingdom, after a fight with far stronger worm and while he could feel a certain connection to Hallownest, shedding his old body and rebirthing himself had been necessary or he would have died for good from his injuries.

"That is the reason why you fear so much to lose it."

Hollow hadn't put a question mark behind this sentence, practically stating his thoughts. There he was, he wanted to confront his child about their behaviour and now they were probing into his own mind.

"Well, yes, of course... but I also have a certain obligation to protect Hallownest and now that we don't use the vessel plan anymore..." , the Pale King rambled, averting his gaze. There was a bit of silence as he concentrated on the folds in Hollow's pillow, but turned his head back again when he heard the scratching of Hollow's quill on the paper.

"Father... I can still be your vessel. I know... I wouldn't make it forever, but... I could contain her long enough until you found another vessel to take over."

The Pale King couldn't, no, didn't want to believe what he just saw them say.

"Hollow! I never want to see you say anything like this ever again!", he didn't even notice that he had yelled at them, only when Hollow flinched and shivered and... started to cry. Thick, inky tears were running down their face and it was breaking the Pale King's heart. He pulled them in a hug as quickly as possible. "Hollow, I am sorry, I didn't want to yell, it's alright, please don't cry.", he tried to soothe them, feeling them shivering, not caring that their tears stained his robes. "I... I never wanted to make you feel useless... you... you aren't."

The Pale King rubbed soothing circles in their back while they silently bawled their eyes out. "I know that you want to please me, but... you aren't the Vessel anymore, you are your own person and I want you to be comfortable being your own person.", he said. "I know it's my fault... that you can't express yourself... I... I won't force you to do anything, but promise me... that we work on it, alright?"

Hollow stopped shivering and looked up at him, still a few tears dribbling down their face, but they wiped them away with their sleeve (pretty much ruining the robe) and nodded.

"Good. Have you calmed down?", the Pale King asked.

After a few seconds of blankly staring Hollow shook their head.

"You are probably too upset to go to sleep now...", the Pale King said. "How about you join me in my workshop until you feel better?"

Hollow nodded pretty much instantly. The choice to word questions like a half order seemed to work. This wasn't only on Hollow's part, the Pale King had to do his part too. He was their father after all.

"We should probably get you a second robe if your first one gets dirty...", the Pale King said, not paying attention at his own robes which were smeared full with Hollow's tears. Hollow just took their robe off and wrapped their cloak like wings around them. "I guess that works too.", the Pale King said.

The palace was mostly silent already as the duo walked to the Pale King's workshop, the Pale King could see how Hollow sometimes still wiped their face with their now uncovered arm, the one that wasn't carrying their nail, which they had insisted to take with them. Their old nail was still in their room and while the Pale King didn't knew why they didn't get rid of it, he decided to let them have their way. There were more troublesome things as his child latching onto an old toy. ...It wasn't even a toy. The Pale King asked himself if he should get Hollow some toys, but didn't had a clue what they would even like, especially at their age. He probably should ask Monomon for advice, just as he had been suggested.

Arrived at his workshop Hollow found a chair to sit in and just watched the Pale King, sitting perfectly still, well that wasn't entirely true, he could see them shiver a bit still.

"Wait here, Hollow, I am right back.", the Pale King said, knowing that they wouldn't have left even if he hadn't said anything.

The Pale King searched for some of the Royal Retainers who were still awake and got lucky, finding a few of them playing cards in their free time, stopping the game immediately when he approached them and bowed, listening quietly to his request and then rushing off, all four of them even though one of them would have been more than enough to handle the task he had for them.

The Pale King returned to his workshop, where Hollow was still sitting. "You can explore the room, Hollow.", the Pale King said. "Just don't touch anything without asking me first."

Hollow shook their head and then signed: "Watch. You."

"Alright then.", the Pale King said, "Though I won't do anything to exciting. I need to write a few letters first."

He was halfway through the first letter when there was a knock on the door. The Pale King dropped his quill and stood up, went to the door and encountered the Royal Retainer who had apparently won being the one who would deliver his request and a second one standing behind them, carrying some fresh robes. He took the two hot beverages he had ordered from them as well as the robe and said: "You have our thanks. You are dismissed. Both of you."

The retainers gave him a bow and hurried off, the Pale King turned around and closed the door with a smack of his tail, walking back to Hollow who had watched the whole exchange, and offered them one of the mugs. "Some hot chocolate for you to calm down.", he said and then put his own mug down, a cup of his usual black coffee. He stared at the robe for a while, asking himself why they had brought it until he realized that his robes were still stained black from Hollow's tears. He quickly changed robes out of sight of Hollow and then watched them when he returned.

Hollow seemed to light up at the beverage and he could see them "drink" it eagerly, at least it looked like drinking, but like always, he wasn't too sure just how they were consuming any kind of food.

"Be careful, it's hot.", the Pale King said, but Hollow shook their head, it seemed to be just right for them.

The Pale King sipped from his own coffee and continued his letter. It was the one for Herrah. Now that he had worked out a schedule, he could determine a date for their meeting. He had to admit, he grew excited too, even though the meeting was meant for Hollow's sake, still, the little spiderling under Herrah's care was also his daughter, though he could consider himself lucky if Herrah would let him hold her. He just hoped that Hollow would get special treatment.

The next letter was assigned to Monomon and though he tried to make it sound as formally as possible when he read through it again it pretty much felt like he had written: "Monomon, help, I am a father now and I am not ready." He decided to let his Root take another look over it before sending it, already imagining at what parts she would chuckle.

Once he laid his quill down, Hollow put their mug on the table next to him and stared at his mug.

"You don't want this, it's not sweet.", the Pale King said. "Why are you so interested in my coffee anyway?"

"Smell. Good.", Hollow signed.

"Well, I can tell you that you are still too young for coffee.", the Pale King said. "Besides, this beverage helps you not sleeping and we want to calm you down for bed, remember?"

"Father not sleep? Mother. Angry.", Hollow signed.

"I don't plan on staying up all night, I just don't want to get to bed right away.", the Pale King said. "Besides, I am used to coffee, I can easily sleep after one cup."

Hollow calmed down after that and then after a few more minutes of watching him as he read the letter to Monomon once again, got up and started to explore the workshop. The Pale King laid the letter down and watched them. Technically he should work on finding a solution for the infection, but with no ideas and still worried about his child, he had to delay it. Hollow looked at pretty much everything and didn't touch anything, just like he had requested, though they also didn't ask for permission to touch anything. They stayed a while in front of the moulds that the Pale King used to form the Wingsmould and Kingsmould, extended their hand but drew it back before they touched it. Lastly, they stood in front of the board on which the Pale King had doodled all kinds of "ideas" getting rid of the infection, but which only showed how out of options he felt.

They turned to the Pale King and pointed at the chalk, asking permission to use it. "Do you want to draw something?", the Pale King asked and as they took it, he added: "You can wipe the whole board, that stuff was going nowhere anyway..."

Hollow did as he told them and being satisfied that they found a way to pass the time, the Pale King opened a book on the ancient civilization before he came to rule the kingdom, hoping to find some hints in there, getting lost in the words and feeling calmed down by the scratching of the chalk on the board.

He turned around to look at the board to see what Hollow had drawn once the sounds stopped, but felt an icy chill at the words on the board:

No cost too great.

No mind to think.

No will to break.

No voice to cry suffering.

Born of God and Void.

You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams.

You are the Vessel.

You are the Hollow Knight.

These words... he had used them to condition the vessels to their task. Had repeated it to them over and over, so that they would get imprinted on containing the Radiance, containing the infection, living to just complete this task. Seeing how his own child recounted this mantra that flawlessly made him feel small and awfully sorry. Especially when he saw the next words written on the right side of the board.

"When I am not the Hollow Knight anymore, not the Vessel anymore, then who am I?"

Of course they would struggle. Of course they would be unsure of their identity, but the Pale King had never thought about this. He got up and crossed the room to give Hollow a second hug for the day.

"You are mine and your mother's child.", he said. "And you can take your time figuring out who you are. As your father, I only know one thing for sure. You are Hollow and I love you." 

(Author's note: Whoops, surprise angst!

Anyone else loving the idea that Quirrel is GREAT with children and often goes teaching classes when Monomon doesn't have much work for him? I am cherishing him more and more lately.)


	6. Chapter 6

Summary: The Pale King and Hollow talk about their feelings. Their are some snuggles with a certain Root. Hollow discovers a new ability and Quirrel has a proposal to make for the Pale King.

(Author's note: I want to thank each and everyone of you who shows their support with likes, kudos, favourites or even comments. Your support is what gets me going and I eagerly await your feedback each time I post.

Also, I got some wonderful fanart for this fic, made by tumblr user ninvic-0, of teen Hollow and a scene of the last chapter, which you can find here: post/614956834246328320/teen-hk-and-a-doodle-both-inspired-by)

He was hugging Hollow for a good while, for how long he didn't knew. They weren't crying but he could feel them shivering. His thoughts wandered back to what they had told him earlier. The fact that they tried not to think. How much suffering had the Pale King unleashed on his child, simply because he wasn't able to see how flawed the whole plan had be? Where they still beating themselves up about thinking, about having a will, a mind? Wouldn't that contradict their believe they aren't allowed to think or feel at all? Even though the Pale King had told Hollow that he wouldn't act on the plan, that they were his and his Root's child and they deserved to be treated like their child, it seemed to be deeply ingrained in Hollow that they once had been the Pure Vessel.

Vessel. The Pale King didn't like to think about how he had called Hollow prior this day where they had cowered in fear, because they hadn't been able to dodge his attacks. He had used this word to distance himself. When he would view Hollow as the vessel, a thing that had to be used, it would be easier for him to go through with the plan. It would also be easier for him to accept the fact just how many of the vessels (his children) had died for the plan. Even with the high mortality rate of wyrm hybrids, that only one of all them survived... had crushed him. Back then, he saw it as as necessary sacrifice, he told himself that no cost would be too great, but he still had sealed the abyss, so that nobody would be able to see what he did, but he had his regrets and shame into a tablet as a grim reminder.

While being lost in his thoughts, the Pale King noticed that Hollow had stopped shivering, though they still were hugging him tightly, he could feel the cold sensation of their void body and how their fingers gripped at his wings. It was a tiny bit uncomfortable, but he wouldn't ask his child to stop hugging him just because of a bit of discomfort. After all, he had caused them much greater discomfort through his very wrong actions.

Still, he needed to know how they were feeling and for this they would need to break the hug. He decided to let Hollow decide though, by asking: "Hollow, how are you feeling?"

Hollow raised their head, but didn't break the hug. It would have been so much easier when they could talk, how much the Pale King wished he could give them the voice he had denied them, but he knew it wasn't possible.

Hollow lingered a few more moments in his hug before taking a step back. The Pale King was secretly relieved that they finally released their grip on his wings, they were rather sensitive and spent a second to shake them out.

Hollow went to fetch their journal. They flipped to a free page and wrote. Though their body wasn't shaking anymore, their hand still was and it resulted into large, crooked letters. They had only written one word.

"UPSET"

"Why are you upset, Hollow? Or at who?", the Pale King asked, deciding that it would be the best to gently coax the information out of Hollow, even though he might not like the answer.

Hollow wrote another word, just one.

"Myself."

It was another instance where the Pale King felt like his heart could break in two. He had thought, had assumed, that Hollow would express that they were upset with him. Because he made them to be the Hollow Knight, he made them feel like they weren't allowed to feel, he made them think that they weren't allowed to think, because he had been a terrible father to them.

"...Why are you upset at yourself?", he asked. Especially when there was a person they could be rightfully upset about right in front of them.

They looked down at their journal and hesitated a bit before they picked up the quill. This time they wrote a whole sentence.

"Because I don't know who I am."

"Oh, Hollow...", the Pale King said, coming over to them and laying a hand on their shoulder. "It bothers you a lot, doesn't it?"

No words this time, just a nod.

"I guess that you don't feel like sleeping in this state.", the Pale King said further.

Another nod, but then they also wrote a sentence again.

"What are you doing when you can't sleep?"

"I am cuddling with my Root.", the Pale King said without hesitation. That had happened quite a few times lately. He had trouble sleeping on his own because of everything that had happened...

Hollow just stared at him, a stare that felt like it came directly from their void nature, but the Pale King didn't need any words or signs to understand what they wanted to say. He took them by the hand and led them out of the room.

The White Lady awoke the next morning and had to realize, that in the night her Wyrm had cuddled up against her again. Though, while his body radiated a pale light and a certain warmth against her roots, she could also feel a sensation on her other side that was as cold as ice and made her shudder.

As she looked down to see just what cold thing was pressed against her, she saw that it was Hollow, seemingly asleep, it was hard to say with a face that couldn't emote, but they were breathing peacefully and didn't move at all.

She chuckled to herself and then gently brushed her branches against her Wyrm's wings to wake him up. "My Wyrm...", she whispered. "My beloved, wake up."

"Root, don't rush me.. I need my coffee first.", he whispered back half asleep and cuddled a bit more, leaning in her touch. He was so cute and she would have liked for him to sleep pressed against her for an hour longer, but she wanted answers now.

"I need to ask you about something.", she said, leaning down to whisper to him. "Mainly just why our child isn't sleeping in their own bed."

That woke her Wyrm up in an instant and as he shot up, he got his horns tangled up in her branches. "Oh no, not again.", he said and that gave the White Lady a good chuckle. It didn't hurt her at all, as a plant based being she couldn't feel pain as much as the more bug like beings, but when it had happened the first time, her Wyrm hadn't stopped apologizing to her.

"You know it doesn't hurt me.", she said and got her husband untangled from her branches. "Now, would you care to elaborate why Hollow picks up on all your bad habits?"

"Root, you didn't had to call me out like that...", he said, pressing against her stem again. "...You don't really mind that I come sleeping next to you once in a while, do you?"

"No, of course not.", she said, another chuckle escaped her. "It just happened... a lot recently and you usually do it when you don't feel well or are upset. So, what happened?"

"My Root...", he said. "Yesterday... something happened. I went to Hollow and tried to talk to them because of how dependent they seem to be on me..."

The White Lady quietly listened as her Wyrm filled her in at what happened. He had simply tried to tell Hollow that they cold be their own person, wanted to encourage them to be their own person, but they hadn't been able to understand. It had culminated in them offering to be the Vessel again, even though they knew they would fail and her Wyrm had got upset at this suggestion and yelled at them.

"...then they started to cry and... I never want to see them like this ever again.", he concluded, a hand over his face. He seemed to try very hard to not burst into tears himself.

"...That wasn't the whole story.", the White Lady said, having the feeling that something other must have happened before the both of them had cuddled up against her, but she was distracted by a motion next to her. Hollow was stirring and soon sat up, looking around the room.

"Oh, Hollow, good morning.", she said.

They signed something at her which she couldn't understand yet. She could only assume that it was "Good Morning.". She needed to ask her Wyrm to teach her the sign language too, so that she could understand what Hollow wanted to say.

Her Wyrm stood up and walked over to Hollow in an instant, looking them over and then asking: "How are you feeling?"

They signed at him and he repeated it out aloud: "Better? That's good to hear."

The White Lady was aware that he had said it out aloud for her sake, but for now, she wanted to hear the rest of the story and she didn't want to have her husband tell it in front of their child, so she said: "Hollow, could you leave us alone for a while, please?"

They stared at her but didn't make any signs that they would move.

"Hollow, please leave us alone.", her Wyrm said and then added. "We meet up for breakfast later. Get ready for the day."

That prompted them to leave immediately and her Wyrm turned to face her, saying: "...They don't get kind pleas. You have to formulate it like an order. I know, that's it's my fault they are like this..."

"My Wyrm, I am sure that we will be able to work this out.", she said and her branch found his claws. She could feel how he tightly pressed it. "Now, please tell me what happened after they broke out in tears."

"I hugged them and apologized.", he said. "We stayed like this for a moment and then I asked if they had calmed down. They shook their head so I decided to take them with me into my workshop so they could calm down and be able to sleep easily later."

"This obviously didn't happen.", the White Lady stated.

"I got them some hot chocolate to help calm them down.", the Pale King told further. "After they had drank it, they started to explore the room and then asked for permission to use the board. I thought they wanted to draw something first, but instead..." The Pale King hugged himself and pressed further into her stem. She laid two branches on his shoulders in an attempt to soothe him.

"...they wrote that mantra on the board. The Hollow Knight one. The one I used to condition them."

"Oh, my Wyrm...", the White Lady sighed, doubling her efforts to sooth him. She briefly thought about using some spores, but decided against it. This was different then getting him to sleep.

"And next to it they questioned who they are, when they aren't the Hollow Knight anymore.", he finished.

"And then you both came into my chamber to get some sleep, I guess?", the White Lady said.

"We.. talked about it a bit more, but it was clear that Hollow was too upset to just go to bed. They asked me what I did whenever I couldn't sleep and well..."

"Like I already said, my Wyrm, they pick up on all your bad habits."

The White Lady retracted her branches and attempted to get up. "I believe it is time for us to start our day."

"Wait, Root.", the Pale King said and she stopped, sitting down again. He searched something in his robes for a little while. She stayed patient, that robe felt like a dimension of its own. How her Wyrm was able to store things in it and find them again was out of her mind.

After a little while he produced a crumbled up letter, she could see that it was addressed at Monomon.

"Yesterday... I got the tip to ask Monomon for parenting advice and I wrote her a letter...", his voice quivered a little, how uncommon for her Wyrm to get nervous around her. "However, I am unsure about the contents. Could you look it over for me?"

"Sure, my beloved.", she said and took the letter. When he looked further at her, she sighed and said: "You want for me to look it over right now?"

"Yes, please, my Root.", he replied, pressing against her another time. How could she say no to her adorable, little, insecure Wyrm?

"Very well then.", she said, took the letter out of the envelope and unfolded it.

Only a few lines in she couldn't help but chuckle. He had tried very hard to make it sound as formal as possible, but ultimately it boiled down on how insecure he was about raising Hollow wrong and that he didn't felt fit for the role of being a father. It certainly lightened her mood this morning, though she frowned a bit at a certain line.

"All we desire is for our child to be happy, but we are unsure how to give them the happiness they deserve when we ourselves don't even know how to be happy.", she read aloud, making her Wyrm flinch.

"That... that doesn't mean I am not happy with you or with Hollow.", he quickly said.

"I never said that.", the White Lady replied. "It is more... concerning to me. My beloved, you need to talk about your feelings more openly. To me. I am your wife after all."

He stared up at her and then averted his gaze. She lowered herself so that their faces were more on par and propped herself up with her branches. As soon as he had noticed, his tail had slung itself around one of her branches. Oh. That meant he was really anxious.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.", she reassured him, but he shook his head and then murmured.

"It's about the other vessels."

"Oh.", she only said, feeling a pang in her insides. It was a difficult topic for the both of them. The thousand children who had died. Who he had locked away.

"I can't help thinking about them before I go to sleep. They plague my dreams. It is why I prefer to come to you, Root, to escape the nightmares."

"My Wyrm.", the White Lady said, giving her husband a soft hug, "You deserve talking about this, but... I can't. Not about this. Not yet."

"...I understand.", he said. "I apologize for bringing it up."

There was a moment of silence between the two of them before the Pale King broke the silence and asked: "So, how do you think I could change the letter to Monomon?"

"Honestly?", she said and chuckled a bit. "Leave it like it is. She is sure to get a good laugh at it."

"And she probably will frame it and put it at the wall of her archives, showing her students.", he groaned. "Claiming that it was the one time that the king himself asked her about parenting advice."

"That surely is something to brag about.", she said and finally got up. "How about we get some breakfast now?"

"Certainly. I need my morning coffee anyway.", the Pale King said. "Just give me a moment to get ready."

After a short amount of time the Pale King met up with his Root again to walk to their designated dining room.

"You know, Root, nobody ever told me that being a father is so difficult.", he said. "I love Hollow, but I am just so unsure about if I do the right thing. After all what I did to them as a grub..."

"At least they are comfortable being around you.", his Root answered. "They are still distant with me."

"...", the Pale King managed to make his silence somehow audible before he spoke. "Root, my apologies. I have been so caught up trying to figure out how to be their father that I completely forget that you are their mother."

"The last few days haven't been easy on you.", she said. "For starters, I would like to be able to communicate with them. Couldn't I join the sign language lessons?"

"You are too big for the library.", the Pale King said. "And, to be honest, I think it is better for Hollow to keep the audience small. But, I can promise you, Root, that we come and teach you what they learned, so that you will be able to communicate with them without me being around."

"That would be admirable.", she said.

"We could also try to get some more time in where we spend time as a family.", the Pale King murmured himself. "Though it could get overwhelming for Hollow. We need to make sure they feel never pressured into something they don't want."

"Understood.", the White Lady said. "I promise that they can retreat whenever they want."

"Thank you, Root.", the Pale King said. "We have to take it slow. This situation is new... for all of us."

"Yes, indeed.", the White Lady said, nearly sighed. "For now, let's not dwell on it too hard. We can find a schedule later. Let us just eat together as a family."

The both of them met up with Hollow and then proceeded to take in their breakfast. Hollow seemed far more cheerful, as much as the Pale King could interpret them, and not as upset as the day prior anymore. They had also put the robe on again, which seemingly one of the Royal Retainers had washed instead of sleeping. The Pale King took the opportunity to get Hollow's mind onto something else and asked them about their balancing problems.

"How is walking going, Hollow? I haven't seen you fall over lately."

"Can walk mostly fine. Still stumble when running or wielding a nail."

"You are making sure to heal your shell whenever you get a crack in it?"

A simple nod.

"Shall we do a bit more balance exercises later?"

Another nod.

"Excellent."

They then looked up at his Root's head and wrote another sentence.

"Why isn't mother falling over all the time?"

As she saw the line, the White Lady broke into a cheerful laugh, Hollow backing away a bit, probably unsure if they had said something wrong.

"Oh, Hollow, don't worry, it was a good question.", she said. "I am a plant based Higher Being. I don't have trouble walking around because my roots spread through the entire kingdom. It is why I can detach myself and walk around. I don't have any trouble with balance, because in a sense, I am always connected to my roots and they guide my way."

"Does that mean I am a plant?!", Hollow wrote and it made her chuckle even more while the face of the Pale King was rather stiff.

"Yes, my child, to a certain degree.", she said. "Though it feels like you mostly inherited traits of your father, so I would say you are more wyrm like."

"...and there is also void..", the Pale King added in a low voice.

"So, that means that I am tree, wyrm and void.", Hollow wrote and then added a single word. "Confusing."

That was when the Pale King noticed that with their questions, they tried to figure out just who they were. Maybe starting with the biological part wasn't even the worst idea. He needed to explain all of this to them in greater detail at a later date.

After they were done with breakfast the three of them went off to spend their individual days. For the Pale King it meant taking care of the troubles in the kingdom, which mostly were infection based, while the White Lady was watching over the Pale Court and Hollow did... whatever. The Pale King had never asked them, simply assuming they would keep themselves busy, but thinking about their struggles with doing things on their own, it wouldn't surprise him if they waited in front of his chambers the whole day.

Once the Pale King managed to get away for a tiny little break, which he planned to extend just a tiny little bit, he was positively surprised to see that Hollow wasn't sitting in front of his chambers. Instead, he found them with Quirrel, examining the nail of the pill bug while Quirrel told them some details about it.

"Good morning, your majesty.", Quirrel said once he noticed that the Pale King was standing there and observing them. Hollow turned their head too and raised one of their hands to wave.

"Good morning.", the Pale King answered, coming closer. "What are you and Hollow doing?"

"Hollow has taken an interest in my nail and I thought I could show them and tell them a bit about it.", Quirrel replied. "This surely is a better pass of their time instead of sitting in front of a door and waiting all day."

These words made the Pale King flinch, exactly what he had imagined they would do had turned out to be reality. Though he found it interesting that Hollow had apparently been the one who had initiated contact. They were still busy examining the nail, they seemed to be pretty fascinated by it, so the Pale King asked Quirrel: "Have they asked you to see your nail?"

"Unfortunately, no.", Quirrel replied, the first word clearly a reference about their talk on Hollow's dependency the day prior. "I realized that they stared at it, so I asked them if they wanted to see it. That was enough for them to get moving."

The Pale King sighed and looked at Hollow. He just wanted for them to be able to make their own decisions, to not have the feel they weren't allowed to do anything on their own anymore. They probably still struggled with the concept of thinking and feeling, after suppressing it as a grub.

"Hollow also has a fine nail.", Quirrel said, either taking the Pale King's interesting in Hollow as simply observing them or wanting to distract him. "It's different from mine, probably done from a nailsmith in the city."

"Correct.", the Pale King stated. "They had another nail before they pupated, but it had become too small for them. However, they still hold onto it and have stored it in their room."

"It must serve as a memento.", Quirrel said as Hollow was in the progress of comparing their nail to Quirrel's nail. The Pale King thought briefly about Quirrel's words. The nail they had had wielded as a grub, that had been the first item he ever had given them. Thinking about that they still held on it, the first "gift" he ever had given them, made him feel warm inside, but it also became very apparent to him just how blind he had been to them having feelings.

"By the way, your majesty.", Quirrel addressed the Pale King directly. "You don't wield a nail, do you? May I ask why?"

"Oh, that is simply.", the Pale King replied and with a flick of his wrist several projectiles appeared out of thin air and floated behind him before he made them disappear. "There is no need."

"The mastery over soul.", Quirrel stated. "Lady Monomon told me about it. Has Hollow inherited this trait?"

"Yes, they have.", the Pale King said. "Though their focus is different from ours. Every higher being has their own form of how to focus soul. It is better for them to learn how to properly wield a nail for protection instead of relying on soul alone."

"I see.", Quirrel said and before the conversation could continue, the Pale King heard some of the Royal Retainers calling out for him.

"It seems like our break is over.", he sighed. "We will see us later at the lesson. Hollow, take care."

Both Hollow and Quirrel waved after him as he went with the Royal Retainers and listened to the duties he still had to fulfil for the day. Because of all the work he had neglected the paperwork had just stacked up and up and he really needed to tackle it. Between his royal duties, caring for Hollow and spending time with his Root, when exactly should he find time to find a solution for the infection? He already planned on skipping on sleeping again, even though his Root wouldn't be too happy about it.

After the Pale King was done with the deeds for the day, he met up with Hollow, who, to his disdain, had settled on sitting down in front of his chambers, again and started the promised balance training which he intended to hold through until his Root would get them for dinner. Like Hollow had said, simply walking was mostly fine, but they struggled when they would have to take a sharp turn. He then wanted to see how they would fare while running.

"Just run in a straight line.", the Pale King said. The hall they were practicing in was long enough, so that they could maintain a good speed. "Or better, run to me.", the Pale King said and flew closer to the end of the hall, positioning himself in the middle and prompting for Hollow to start running.

They didn't wait for a second demand and started to run right away, making it a few metres before the weight on their head, naturally they were hunched over forwards while running, brought them down and the Pale King flinched as he already saw them having a painful collision with the floor, already hurrying to be at their side to catch them, but before he had even closed one metre of distance before them, Hollow flashed and was at his side, stumbling into his arms.

"What in Hallowsnest...", the Pale King mumbled, looking Hollow over, to determine that they were not hurt, which they weren't, but they looked as dumbfounded as he did and that was saying a lot from a being which was unable to emote.

"Hollow, what did you do?", the Pale King asked, as soft as possible in an attempt to not scare them or making them think they did something wrong. They stared blankly at him for a while before raising shaking hands and signing. "Not. Know."

"It looked like a teleport.", the Pale King said. It was a form of soul, but not one that was easy to learn. In fact, the Pale King rarely ever used the teleport, it was making him feel dizzy and it was easier to just walk. He had to admit that it would have benefits in a battle though. That Hollow accidentally used it... that had to mean that they were a natural.

Hollow straightened themselves up and got out their journal.

"Teleport?", they asked.

"In short, moving quickly from one point to another.", the Pale King replied. "Is is quite impressive that you could use it without ever having been shown. It isn't easy to learn."

"...I don't know how I did it.", Hollow wrote. "Feel a bit dizzy."

"It was your first time, that is normal.", the Pale King said, but nonetheless, led them to a nearby bench to sit down. "I can only assume that you used it to avoid any damage while falling. I was too far away to catch you and your soul reacted to your distress and let you use the ability."

Hollow looked at him and then wrote: "Felt different than a dash."

"Because it isn't a dash.", the Pale King said. "A dash is launching your whole body forward, using the momentum, a teleport is making your body disappear from one location and appearing at another."

"I have never seen you do it.", Hollow wrote.

"You see...", the Pale King said, "I usually prefer to not teleport. It is easier to just walk or fly. I never had enough interest to train this skill to get over the dizziness it causes." He looked at Hollow who had slightly leaned against him as he spoke. "Do you want to perfect that skill, Hollow?"

Their big eyeholes stared up at him, they seemed to consider, but then they nodded.

"Then we better get to practice.", the Pale King said. "Only after you feel ready, of course. Not that you get nauseous."

Was it even possible for Hollow to get nauseous? The Pale King assumed that it was, they ate and apparently had some kind of digestive system in that void body of theirs, it wasn't too farfetched that said void body would be able to regurgitate whatever had been put in it.

The both of them practiced Hollow's new skill until the White Lady would come to get them for dinner. In the meantime, the Pale King had started to feel rather dizzy from having to show Hollow how to teleport so often until they got the hang of it. And once they got the hang of it, they managed to teleport just fine, but managed to fall over every single time once they reappeared, which forced the Pale King to either run and catch them or even teleport to get to them, until he couldn't anymore and Hollow managed to fall on the floor rather hard.

They got up in an instant, but had a rather large crack across their eye. After they had trained their teleport for two hours, they were low on soul, so the Pale King helped them focus by taking their hands in his claw and sharing his own soul with them, so that the crack could heal.

"Before we try this again, we should tackle your issue with falling over all the time.", he said before the both of them joined his Root for dinner. During the tea they had afterwards, the Pale King and Hollow used the time to show the White Lady which signs they had learned, so that she could understand them better.

After they were done, the Pale King and Hollow met up with Quirrel for the sign language lesson for the day. Just as yesterday, it turned out that Hollow was a quick learner and they managed to learn the new signs with ease and got even more comfortable with their new fingers they possessed since two days. They seemed to be so eager to learn, that they looked downright disappointed when the Pale King pointed out that it was time for them to go to bed. At least, the way they lowered their head and let their shoulders droop, looked like it. Even without being able to emote, the Pale King found them to be rather expressive. Or maybe he just took on all the little hints because they were his child.

Once the Pale King had tucked Hollow into bed, this time without tears gladly, they were far too exhausted from training and fell asleep right away, he planned to retreat to his workshop and found, once again, Quirrel waiting for him.

"Your majesty.", he said. "Allow me to talk about Hollow again."

"Feel free to speak.", the Pale King said, leaning against the wall, then realizing that this wasn't very royal from him and stood straight in front of Quirrel.

"They aren't going to a school, right?"

The Pale King shook his head. Of course not. They had been planned to be the vessel which sealed the Radiance, there hadn't been any advantages of them having a proper education. Only thinking about it made the Pale King feel guilty again.

"I thought so.", Quirrel said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. "After all, their life had been planned differently."

As Monomon's assistant, Quirrel was of course in the know and he couldn't help but flinch as he pointed out so blatantly what he still felt awful about. Quirrel took note of it and said: "My apologies, your majesty, I didn't want to overstep any boundaries."

"It's alright...", the Pale King said, silently cursing that his tail was twitching under his robes, he never could get this thing under control when he was nervous. "Do you want to suggest that we send Hollow to a school?"

To the Pale King's surprise, Quirrel shook his head and said: "No, I wouldn't advise for them to visit a school. Not only that they are mute and would have trouble expressing themselves, their education level would require for them to visit elementary school and their body is too old for them to fit in. Besides, they are... different."

Quirrel certainly didn't meant this as an insult or another jab in the Pale King's direction, but he couldn't help but feel upset about it. He gently put one foot on his tail to finally get this thing to be quiet and not knock over anything breakable that was near.

"Higher Being... and void...", he murmured, more to himself. No, it wouldn't be a good idea to send Hollow to a public school, Quirrel was right with everyone he had just told the Pale King, he just asked himself, why Quirrel had brought up the school in the first place.

"We already talked about them being dependent on others, especially you.", Quirrel said.

"We... we already tried to talk with them about it, but it didn't went too well...", the Pale King said, for some weird reason he felt like he was being judged.

"Your majesty, please don't worry, I am not here to berate you how to raise your child.", Quirrel said. "I simply want to offer my help."

"Um...", the Pale King brought out, hating that he lost his words for a moment. "Then, um, please continue."

"For children it is important to have a clear set of rules and a daily routine.", Quirrel proceeded. "I am here now anyway, so I wanted to propose to act as their tutor when you are busy with your duties. This way, they can catch up on their education and they are busy until you have time for them."

Any anxiety the Pale King had felt dropped off him at this words. That was a genuinely good idea. Hollow needed to get an education anyway and them spending the mornings and early afternoons with learning was far better than them just sitting there doing nothing especially as long as they only were allowed to spar with supervision and because of the infection the great knights were more out in the tunnels than in the palace, helping with keeping it at bay. Though, one thing remained in his thoughts.

"Are you sure you can handle them on their own?", the Pale King asked.

"Please don't worry.", Quirrel said, a cheerful smile on his features. "Whenever Lady Monomon doesn't have much work for me, I use to teach elementary classes. Sometimes I even act as the school counselor. Lady Monomon says that I am a natural with children. And I promise you, should anything happen, I will get you right away."

"We don't have any objections then.", the Pale King said. "Though we should ask Hollow first if they are fine with it."

Just as the words left him, he realized his mistake. Of course they would be fine with it if he proposed it to them and if Quirrel would be the one to ask, they would ask for his permission first.

"I will gladly teach them if they agree.", Quirrel said, either oblivious to the Pale King's mistake or, and he suspected that, ignoring it. "Come talk to me once you decided. Have a good night, your majesty."

Quirrel then left and the Pale King retreated to his workshop, trying to come up with solutions only to – once again – end up with nothing. Eventually he ended up passing out on his desk and awoke the next morning with sore back and the need for several cups of coffee.

When he asked Hollow this morning during breakfast if Quirrel could be their tutor, they seemed to be eager at the proposal, even though the Pale King knew they would do it, even if they didn't want to. He decided that them having a positive reaction was good. His Root also agreed that it would be a good idea and that Quirrel and Hollow also could come get her when something happened. Once this was settled, the day started and over the week a certain routine set in.

He first would get up and then eat breakfast with Hollow and his Root, then he would escort Hollow to the library where Quirrel would teach them at all sorts of subjects, then he would need to attend to his royal duties until lunch time, which he either skipped to spend time in his workshop or eat a tiny little thing when his Root caught him. He then had to attend to his royal duties again until later afternoon. This hours he spend with Hollow and their balance training, as well as their teleport training. Then they would eat dinner and show his Root the sign language they had learned the day prior, also to make themselves remember, then the both of them would meet up with Quirrel again to have the sign language lesson for the day, which they attended until Hollow had to go bed. The Pale King would bring Hollow into bed and tuck them in and then retreat to his workshop to "work" on a solution for the infection or more despair that he felt like he was running out of options, often staying the whole night in the workshop or spending the night cuddled against his Root when she caught him.

Somewhen during this week a letter of Monomon arrived, in which she gave the Pale King genuine tips how to be a good parent, but also expressed worry and invited him and Hollow to come over when they had time and felt comfortable doing so, she would like to see the both of them in person to talk about their issues. The Pale King also had the assumption that maybe Quirrel kept her updated about everything that happened at the White Palace.

After the week had passed, Hollow had gotten pretty good at forming simple sentences with sign language as well as wouldn't fall over that much anymore, mostly still having trouble with fighting and even there they became better and fell around 40 % less than prior, so the Pale King decided that it was finally time to take that trek to Deepnest, so that he wrote Herrah a letter and announced their coming the next time he managed to wriggle in a free day, which would be in two days from now.

That moment had come and once again, the Pale King and Hollow would set out from the White Palace, being seen in the public, though this time they were going to Deepnest, which probably would be a not very warm welcome.

He turned around to see if Hollow still was with him and then said, not having them told where they were going, because he had wanted to keep it a surprise: "So, are you ready to meet your little sister?"

Hollow jumped up with excitement and nodded so enthusiastically they nearly fell over.

"I thought so.", the Pale King. "Then stay close to me, we have a long way to go."

(Author's note: It was ruthlesslistener who first told me about the idea that Quirrel could be Hollow's tutor and somehow it snaked its way into the story. All credit for the headcanon goes to him.

Oh and look at this, they finally go to Deepnest! My apologies that it is getting prolonged another chapter, this story has a mind of its own and I can't force it to skip over scenes that it wants to have.

Also, at first I decided to leave the entire story in PK POV, but the scene with the White Lady worked a lot better from her POV. Tell me if you prefer if I keep it in PK's POV only. I probably will use other POVSs very rarely anyway.)


	7. Chapter 7

Summary: The Pale King and Hollow venture into Deepnest to meet up with Herrah, so that Hollow can meet their sister. Not everything goes smoothly.

(Author's note: Long chapter is long!

I would have liked to cut this chapter in two, but it feels like it has to be this long, it would feel wrong to cut it in half and publish as two chapters. There was so much I wanted to put into this chapter and I am satisfied I managed, I am just amazed that I managed to break the 10k word mark. That is the longest chapter I have ever written.

Once again, I need to thank all of you who commented on this piece, your support is what keeps me going.

I also need to thank catanutella, who draw some art inspired by my fic which I would like to share but refuses to display the link and ruthlesslistener which latest Hollow Knight oneshot inspired me to add a tiny scene at the end.

Also, I shit you not, I dreamed up a scene for this chapter! Ask me which it was if you want or try to find it our yourself ^^)

"We will take the tram from the Basin to Deepnest.", the Pale King said to Hollow as they walked away from the palace. "Once we are there, we have to walk the rest by foot." The Pale King had preferred to take the tram that would lead more closely to Herrah's den, but even though construction works had gone on for a while now, it just never seemed to get finished. Maybe he should use the opportunity and see what the problem was, when he was already there.

"Tram?", Hollow asked, quickly signing each individual letter, not knowing a sign for the word they just had learned.

"It's a vehicle that moves on rails.", the Pale King explained. "It can move rather fast and get you from one point of Hallownest to another in a short amount of time, but it is fixed on one layer. The tram we are going to take will get us to the lower levels of Deepnest and then we need to climb up to meet Herrah at her den."

"Understood.", Hollow signed, silently following the Pale King, only the foot steps of their void feet, mixing with the clacking of the Pale King's claws, were heard. If one didn't knew they were there, it was easy to forget about their presence. The familiar guilty pang bloomed in the Pale King's chest, his teachings of not to feel anything had made them that way, that was the only reason they were so good at being silent, at acting as if they wouldn't exist.

It was only a short walk to the tram station, Hollow didn't even need any help, their balance had improved vastly over the last week, they mostly still had trouble with balance while trying to fight and when teleporting, they just wouldn't be able to stand straight after it, they always would get pulled down by their horns, having a few painful impacts with the floor whenever the Pale King hadn't managed to catch them in time. It had gone so far that they had to transfer the training near a soul statue, so that they could deal with the constant cracks in their shell. For how much the Pale King encouraged Hollow to make their own decision, training until they were so dry of Soul they could barely stand wasn't one he approved of, they could be surprisingly stubborn about their training. He just wondered from who Hollow had inherited that train, or not, he exactly knew from who they had inherited it.

Arrived at the tram station, the Pale King breathed out a short sigh of relief at how empty it was. This particular station was mostly occupied by bugs coming from and going to Deepnest, which wasn't a common occurrence. The main reason why the Pale King didn't want to ride the stag ways, even though he had ordered to build them, wasn't only that the stags weren't too fond at his decision to build the trams, but rather that they were riddled with bugs, bugs who would stare at him, bow to him and do nothing but praise him, a thing that was fine when they were far away, but felt extremely awkward when he was in the middle of it. He would feel like wanting to run away screaming, but would be forced to stay and act regal, he was their king after all, a higher being. It would only make him incredible cramped and would give him a desire to stay in the palace for a whole year, he wouldn't be a good role model for Hollow as well. They had picked up on his anxiety anyway already, no need to display it in front of them any more.

The Pale King pulled out the tram pass he had organized before they left and inserted it in the slot at the station, only a short while later the tram arrived. Hollow stared at it and if they would have been able to make an expression, the Pale King could swear their eyeholes would have gone larger.

"That is the tram.", the Pale King said and moved closer to the door. "Let us enter."

The both of them entered and the tram was as empty as the station in front of them, which was much to the Pale King's preference. That was the good thing about having a bad relationship with Deepnest, nobody ever wanted to go there. The Pale King sat down and gestured for Hollow to sit down next to him. As the tram rumbled and started moving, the Pale King noticed that Hollow fidgeted with their fingers.

"Are you nervous?", he asked them.

"Yes.", Hollow signed and the Pale King laid his claws on their shoulder. One of the advices in Monomon's letter, make your child feel safe and understood when they are unsure. Physical affection always seemed to help with Hollow.

There were a few minutes of silence before Hollow signed: "What is Deepnest like?"

"It's a dark place.", the Pale King replied. "Actually, while we have to wait to arrive at our destination this is a good opportunity to tell you about a few rules."

Hollow turned their head at the Pale King and cocked it lightly, showing that they were listening.

"Like I said, it is a dark place.", the Pale King said. "Quite literally. When the White Palace is a place full of light, then Deepnest is a place devoid of light. I, naturally, glow in the dark, so I would like for you to stick close to me." Hollow nodded as the Pale King got something out of his robes, a tiny glass ball filled with a few glowing flies. "But if we ever get separated, I need you to have this. It is a lumafly lantern. It will grant you light in a dark place."

Hollow accepted the lantern and stared at it, stroking it with their fingers, observing it from all angles, obviously being fascinated by it. "Of course it would be better if we don't get separated.", the Pale King said, leaving Hollow a few minutes to observe the lantern until they were satisfied.

"Next, Deepnest isn't a part of the kingdom.", the Pale King said. "It consists mostly of predators and they could attack us, especially if they are infected." The Pale King shuddered a bit, the infection was still a problem with no solution. He needed to find one, soon, at least before Hollow would offer to be the Vessel again. He still got an icy feeling in his stomach when he even thought about that scene.

"Herrah is kind of the leader of Deepnest, we don't want to anger her, so don't kill anyone that isn't infected.", the Pale King said. "It would be better if you use your nail only in an emergency situation, let me handle any predators, I know enough spells to incapacitate them."

Hollow nodded, but still clutched their nail. The Pale King remembered, that while Hollow had trained with a nail since they hatched, they never actually had gotten send out to fight the infected with the five great knights. They truly were a skilled warrior, but they lacked proper experience.

"So, in short, stay close to me, only use your nail when absolutely necessary. Do you understand?", the Pale King asked and they confirmed with a nod.

A few more moments of silence and then Hollow signed another question: "Why is sister at Deepnest?" The Pale King noticed that they used the signs for dark and nest for the last word, practically calling it Darknest, but he got it just fine.

"It's because Hornet is watched over by Herrah.", the Pale King said. "She... was part of the bargain to convince Herrah to be a dreamer. It's.. complicated."

While the Pale King would have liked to tell Hollow exactly just how Hornet had come into existence, he felt it was a bit too much to unload on them that he practically had engaged in a dalliance with Herrah and Hornet could be considered his bastard child. His Root never had been mad at him for it though and she even seemed fond of Hornet, often talking about her whenever she met up with Herrah. The Pale King assumed that it was kind of a coping mechanism for his Root at the loss of her biological children.

Hollow didn't ask further. Why should they, he had let through that he was uncomfortable talking about this topic and they surely wouldn't pry further. The rest of the ride was spent in silence until the tram came to a screeching halt and Hollow nearly fell over at the sudden loss of balance, being supported by the Pale King who had grabbed the end of their robe.

"We are here.", he said. "Stay close to me, Hollow."

Hollow nodded and the both of them exited the tram. Around the station, there was still light, but it was barely possible to see two metres into the dark. Now the daunting task to navigate Deepnest and actually reach Herrah's den was in front of them. The Pale King pulled out a map of the place and planned a route while Hollow was looking at every direction, taking in the sight, or more the darkness, there wasn't much to see.

Once the Pale King had mapped out the route and saved it in his mind, he looked at Hollow who clearly had waited for his attention, because they signed: "Place is dark." They looked around another time. "Not even birthplace was that dark."

"Can... can we not talk about this place, please?", the Pale King said, having a sinking feeling in his stomach, the sinking feeling of several thousand dead children locked in this place.

"Sorry.", Hollow signed and they looked down, almost toppling over. Whenever they even shifted their horns downwards, their balance would be off at once.

"It's quite alright, Hollow.", the Pale King said. "I am just... not ready facing that place again." Or more, he had vowed to himself that he would never return to it. What was the point? Hollow had been the only survivor. All other vessels had been stillborn, cracked shortly after birth or had fell on the way to the top. It had been a cruel thing to watch and he had been a cruel father to let it happen, the guilt gnawing at him even months later.

However, enough about being lost in thoughts. They were on their way to something more bright. At least for Hollow it should be, the Pale King only felt incredibly awkward around Herrah, especially after the had... He shook his head and started to put one foot in front of the other. The sooner they managed to cross Deepnest, the better.

"Follow me and stay close.", the Pale King said and Hollow nodded, starting to follow him. His natural light illuminated the caves around them, so that there wasn't a need for a light source, like he had explained to Hollow earlier. Most of Deepnest's inhabitants were quite sensitive to light, so he hoped that this would be enough to keep them at bay, even the infected ones. He had overheard some of the Royal Retainers once and some of them had admitted that it downright hurt looking at him, so bright could his light be.

The Pale King looked back to make sure that Hollow was following him. Despite their void nature, they weren't bothered by his light at all and if, they were excellent in hiding it. He saw that they had drawn their nail, despite him telling them earlier to only use it in an emergency situation, but he also knew that Hollow viewed their nail as emotional comfort. They probably only were holding it, with both hands, he realized, one at the handle and one at the tip, to calm themselves down from any fears they felt.

"Hollow, if anything is bothering you, tell me.", the Pale King said, but Hollow shook their head and continued to follow him. They either were fine with the situation or tried to be brave and the Pale King suspected the latter was the case. However, because he tried to encourage them to be their own person, he didn't want to to make them feel that they couldn't make their own decisions. If he would tell them that they didn't have to be brave, they would only take this as cue to fall completely back into their dependency on him. Getting this mindset out of them was still a work in progress.

The walk was silent, well asides from the noises that Deepnest would make, the constant crawling and chittering of the bugs in the darkness and generally noises that made anyone feel unwelcome here. In the outer parts of Deepnest there lived mostly Dirtcarvers, a predator that would burrow underground and strike when their prey least expected it. Luckily, most of them still seemed to have their wits about them and didn't emerge, probably knowing that even with the bad relationship Hallownest and Deepnest had with each other, that it wouldn't be wise to attack the literal king and whichever bug was following him. On the rare occasions of an infected Dirtcarver emerging, the Pale King summoned a few spears and would incapacitate them in place, still hoping that they could find a cure for the infection and wouldn't have to take down every bug which displayed symptoms. At least the infection didn't seem to have spread too much to Deepnest, for most of the time, their walk was rather peaceful, in lack of better descriptions for Deepnest.

A bit further in, the Pale King spotted the first Deephunters glaring at him, quickly running away once him and Hollow approached, either being bothered by the light or fearing that this prey could be too big for them, not wanting to waste their venom. Of course their venom would be hardly deadly for a Higher Being, but it would still hurt and in too high concentration could start to get deadly, so the Pale King was rather satisfied that he didn't had to fend them back.

Occasionally the Pale King turned around to check on Hollow, once again regretting that he hadn't given them a voice, because without them making a single sound, it was hard to interpret just how they felt. They looked around and took in the surroundings, bravely following him step by step, sometimes needing help climbing a ledge by the Pale King, because jumping still caused them balance troubles and their wings weren't useful for flight, never commenting on the situation, probably because their hands were busy holding their nail and they didn't want to let go to sign or write in their journal.

"Are you feeling fine, Hollow?", the Pale King asked after they had approximately reached the halfway point to Herrah's Den. Hollow just nodded and seemed to clutch their nail harder.

"Alright then.", the Pale King said and started walking again. The ground of that tunnel felt kind of off, he thought. It felt like it could burst anytime and just as he realized that the weight of two bugs may be too much for the already fragile ground, it crumbled. In the spur of the moment the Pale King spread his wings to lift himself up, turning around having kind of suspected that Hollow had either jumped or teleported when they felt the ground giving in, but his child was nowhere to be seen.

"Hollow?!", the Pale King asked, panic blooming in his chest. "Hollow, where are you?!"

Of course they didn't answer, couldn't answer, how could they without a voice. He had to find them and quick. That they weren't anywhere at the edge of the newly formed gap meant, that they probably had fallen down and what if they had gotten hurt and couldn't move and not even cry for help down there? The Pale King got a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Wait.", he told himself, in an attempt to calm himself down. "If they have gotten hurt, then they must still be down there." He flew the gap down, which thankfully wasn't that deep, but still deep enough for a bug to break their shell if they landed wrong and Hollow had the tendency to land on their head when they fell.

They weren't down there. At least that meant they hadn't gotten hurt enough so that they couldn't move or that they were able to heal any injuries with soul, but that was the only comfort the Pale King had. He actually had preferred to found them down there, where he easily would have been able to fix them up with his own soul, them not being there meant that they now were wandering through Deepnest, alone and scared and maybe out of enough soul to heal any injuries they could suffer.

"Hollow?", the Pale King shouted again. "If you can hear me, make some noise."

There wasn't anything and the earlier panic manifested back in the Pale King. What if he would never find Hollow again? What if he would only find their shell? What if their shade would get unleashed, lashing out at him for all the suffering he had inflicted on them? What should he tell his Root, that he lost their last living child? He sunk to the ground, heavily breathing, as the panic took completely over. The last time he had felt this hopeless had been when the Radiance nearly had killed him and he needed to channel every last amount of Soul to heal the life threatening injury. At least, that had only been about himself, now, he had lost the very one being he was responsible for, he had started to care so much about and he didn't want to lose for anything in the entirety of Hallownest.

The frantic beating of his heart in his chest slowed down as he made a decision. He wouldn't let Deepnest take his child. The Pale King got up and considered how he should start the search. Sadly, he had neglected to tell Hollow what to do when they got separated, it would be best for them to stay put, but judging how scared they seemed to be off Deepnest, they probably panicked once they got separated and ran away.

The Pale King noticed something on the ground which didn't reflect his light. Only one thing in Hallownest was able to swallow his light and that was... void. Indeed, there were traces of void on the floor, which implied that Hollow indeed had gotten hurt by their fall, but not hurt enough that they couldn't move anymore. If the Pale King would follow the trail, he would find them.

He hadn't followed the trail for long when he caught the glimpse of something white and black hushing along the tunnels, with two very big horns. "Oh, Hollow, there you are.", the Pale King said, following their figure, not questioning why they didn't stop when they heard his voice or just why they could move so gracefully quick, even though they usually would fall over every few steps at this pace.

"Hollow, wait.", the Pale King said, "Where are you heading? I am right here. Look, I am sorry that I left you hanging earlier. Aren't you hurt? Let's take a look at your wound."

Hollow didn't answer, of course, but they also didn't sign or did... anything to show that they heard the Pale King. Sometimes they would stop and wait for the Pale King to catch up before hurrying into the tunnels again. "Have you discovered something and want to show it to me?", the Pale King asked, getting more and more confused about Hollow's behaviour, a feeling that something was wrong with them grew inside of him, maybe they really had hit their head and now couldn't think straight or some parasite of Deepnest had taken over them. Either way, for the Pale King to help them, he needed to come closer and they always would run away again, when he was close enough to finally reach them.

"Hollow, stop this.", the Pale King said "This isn't funny anymore." They had arrived at a rather spacious tunnel and just now the Pale King noticed that there were two things wrong with Hollow.

The first one was, that they weren't carrying the Lumafly Lantern he had given them earlier. Judging from their earlier remark, they couldn't see in the dark.

The second, and that was the more alarming one, was that they weren't carrying their nail they had hold on so conscientiously earlier. Even when they had lost the nail, the Pale King knew that they would go search it before doing anything else. That was probably why they hadn't been there, they had let go of their nail and went to search it in a panic as their comfort item vanished from their grasp.

The suspicions of the Pale King about having faced an imposter became true when the "Hollow" in front of him started to transform and their body turned into one of a big black and orange predator (an infected one), hissing and bubbling at him. Of course it would attack, of all the bugs in Hallownest, he was the one the Radiance wanted to be dead the most.

"Hmph, don't underestimate me.", the Pale King said, flicking his wrist to summon several projectiles, dictating them to fly at the predator and impale it. He knew he couldn't just incapacitate this one, but judging from the fury the creature had for him, its mind had been completely took over by the will and orders of the Radiance, getting it out of its misery could be considered an act of mercy.

The creature started to charge against him and the Pale King ordered his projectiles to target its head, but shortly before they could impact, he hesitated.

That was still Hollow's face the creature was wearing and even though the Pale King knew that he was unreasonable, after all he did to Hollow, he couldn't bring himself to hurt this face, even if it was clearly an imposter in front of him.

His hesitation was enough that he predator could pin him under its claws, roaring at him. He could practically hear the Radiance's excitement at finally having a chance to strike her arch enemy down, with the help of a powerful predator she had managed to overtake. The Pale King knew that he needed to attack, defend himself, but his gaze was still on the face of Hollow that the imposter was wearing and there was it, that crushing guilt. There was the picture inside of his mind of Hollow cowering in fear when he had made several projectiles fly at them, wanting to test their new balance, still thinking that they were nothing but an empty being, realizing how hard they had tried to pretend and it made him unable to move, even when the claw drove into his flesh, a hot pain searing through his shoulder and blood seeping out of the wound.

The pain briefly brought him back to the severity of the situation, if he wouldn't do something, anything, the predator would cut him down and the Radiance would get her will. Though, why she didn't order the predator to kill him right away... she probably wanted him to suffer, kill him slowly and painfully. He could use this to his advantage. He forced himself to conjure another projectile and hurled it between him and the claw, rolling away when the predator shrieked in protest at the sudden obstacle, struggling to get to his feet. He couldn't fight the creature, not as long as it was wearing Hollow's face and making him incapable of hurting it because of his own guilt, but at least he could flee and find the real Hollow, who hopefully hadn't become a victim of this predator.

That thought, together with the wound, was enough for the Pale King to struggle and fall over, the impact jostling the injury and making him incapable of getting up because of the pain.

"Focus...", he murmured to himself, trying to conjure soul to heal himself, but it was too late. The predator had already caught up to him and he closed his eyes awaiting the impact of its razor sharp claws in his back, but it never happened. Instead, he heard the sound of metal clashing against claws.

As he opened his eyes and turned his head, he saw Hollow, the real Hollow, standing between him and the predator, their nail fighting against the force of their strike. They were shaking and the Pale King couldn't say if it was from effort or rage. He only knew that he was more than glad to see them, alive and well, though they did get pushed backwards one by one.

_Enough of lying around._, the Pale King thought to himself and though it would have been more wise to heal his injury first, seeing his child in danger made him lose any reasonable thoughts and so he jumped up and conjured several projectiles, ignoring the pain flaring up from his wound.

"Leave our child alone.", he hissed, throwing the projectiles at the predator, now that his real child was here, that mind trick wouldn't work on him anymore.

His aim was a bit shaky, but most of the projectiles hit their mark, well, would, if the predator wouldn't have jumped backwards, dodging a majority of them in the last second. At least it gave Hollow some breathing room. The Pale King turned his head to check on them, only to see they were face first on the ground. Of course, they had tried with all their might to push back their foe and when suddenly the force pushing them back vanished, they would lose their balance and with them being still off balance, they wouldn't be able to keep themselves up.

With the nail in their right hand, they struggled to get up. The predator took this as a chance and their claw was about to strike down. The Pale King, while not being fond of it, it would cost him large amounts of soul, teleported between the claw and his child, summoning a barrage of projectiles to protect the both of them, but he wasn't quick enough, the claw managed to rip another wound, this time in his arm, he gasped as the pain hit him.

If he would have been in his wyrm form, that predator would have just been an easy meal, swallowed in one gulp, but he wasn't in his wyrm form anymore, he had changed himself to a form that was more akin to the bugs of this kingdom and with that came disadvantages. As he summoned another barrage of projectiles to not let the next strike hit them, especially not his child, he noticed that Hollow had managed to get up again and also noticed that they weren't waiting behind him, instead, they jumped up and drove their nail into one eye of the predator, which shrieked in pain, orange goop leaked out of it.

"Hollow, what are you doing?! Stay behind me!", the Pale King yelled, unaware that he had been on the defense all this time and Hollow just wanted to give him an opening, he could only watch when after the attack they failed their landing and the impact with the ground sounded rather painful.

The Pale King dropped any projectiles he still controlled and hurried over to his child, summoning new projectiles on the way, intending to string them between the predator and his child, but pain, blood loss and exhaustion from all the soul he had used caught up to him and made him unable to spread his wings, instead, he scurried over the ground, having to see how the claws of the predator bolted down on a helpless Hollow, which stared, simply stared and shortly before the claw could hit them, they didn't use their nail in an attempt to block it, but instead looked away and flicked their left hand, spear pillars emerging from the ground, impaling the predator on them.

The Pale King watched with wide eyes as the death cry of the creature sounded and even Hollow managed to direct their gaze back, crawling a bit backwards when they saw what had happened. Copious amounts of the infection regorged on the ground, staining Hollow, and the shell of the predator soon fell lifeless on the ground once the pillars vanished.

Hollow started shaking and soon tears ran down their face. The Pale King was at their side in an instant to pull them into a hug.

"Father.", they signed. "Scared."

"I know.", the Pale King said. "I was scared too." _Scared of losing you._ "I am so sorry that I lost you earlier." He hugged them tighter, their shaking still not ceasing. They must have been terrified and still, they had saved him. Without their interference, he would have let himself strike down by the predator, simply because he couldn't get the image out of his mind of a Hollow that had cowered in fear of him.

Hollow reciprocated the hug, but withdrew their hand and stared at the white liquid on it. His blood.

"Father, you are hurt.", they signed. "You saved me. Now you are hurt." They then proceeded to sign the word sorry in quick succession until the Pale King took their hands in his claws, not without wincing, that arm and shoulder of his _hurt_, preventing them from signing the word out once more.

"The opposite is the case, Hollow. If you wouldn't have come, I would have let myself struck down. It was you who made me able to move again and it was you who took down the predator.", he said, slowly releasing their hands.

"I did?", they asked. "Not you?"

Clearly they were confused and seemed to think that the last attack had come from the Pale King, not from them, no wonder, they never had used this attack before. The Pale King was once again astonished about their tight control over soul, even though they had done it in a panic, they had managed to copy a complex spell that he may have shown them once or twice when they still had been a grub.

"No, that was all you, Hollow.", the Pale King said and then scanned their body. "Are you hurt? Are you in pain?"

Hollow first shook their head and then nodded, contradicting themselves.

"Well, yes or no?", the Pale King asked.

They raised shaky hands to sign: "Cut my foot earlier. Is not bad. Healed my shell with soul."

That meant, they had gotten hurt earlier by their fall and, like the Pale King had anticipated, fell face first, though that didn't explain how they managed to cut their foot. Which also was void and so couldn't be healed with soul, which only would heal the shell.

"Can you explain how it happened?", the Pale King said.

Hollow was silent for a while and then signed: "Fell. Felt a panic. Teleported. Foot got caught in something sharp. Fell over again. Hit my head. Healed it with Soul. Then couldn't see you anymore. Went to search."

Alright, that explained just how it had come to all of the events that led to this moment. The Pale King should have never let Hollow fall down into that pit, they didn't knew what they should do and had tried to find their only source of comfort and the person they depended on: Him.

"Let me see your wound.", the Pale King said.

"Father, your own wounds...", they signed, but he shook his head and said: "I can heal myself in a second, let's take care of you first." The relief of his child being safe was enough to make him forget that there still was blood seeping out of his own cuts, staining his robes and the ground around him.

Hollow shyly presented him their left food, which indeed had a nasty cut in it which leaked void blood.

"I can't heal void with soul.", he said. "But we can make sure that it doesn't bleed anymore." He conjured a bit more soul and formed it into the form of strap, which wrapped itself around Hollow's feet, securing the wound tightly and keeping it from leaking. "There, now you should be able to strain it without trouble."

Hollow got up and took a few shaky steps, nodding, then stared expectant at him.

"I know, I know, I will heal myself now.", the Pale King said and conjured up soul to guide into his injuries, but he had to realize that there wasn't any soul left to guide anywhere.

"I … seem to be out of soul.", he said and along with the realization and the relief about Hollow being fine, the severity of his injuries came toppling down on him and he could feel himself slip into unconsciousness.

When the Pale King awoke, he still noticed a dull pain in his arm and shoulder, but they felt much more manageable. He was propped up against a wall and when he investigated his wounds, he saw that they were wrapped tightly, not with soul, but with what looked suspiciously like Hollow's robe. He turned his head to search for them and found them in the middle of the cave, where the predator had hung it's prey from the ceiling, working on getting a Dirtcarver down with their nail. There were several more dead bugs hanging from the ceiling, clearly victim of Deepnest's philosophy of "eat or get eaten". One of them looked kinda like a Vessel. The Pale King blinked and then shook his head, was his mind still playing tricks on him? Asides from Hollow, no other Vessel survived.

Once Hollow managed to cut down the Dirtcarver, they took the prey in both hands and brought it over to the Pale King, cutting pieces out of it with their nail.

"What are you doing?", the Pale King asked, startling them. They turned their head to them, laid their nail down and signed: "Father, you are awake."

"Yes, indeed.", the Pale King said. "So, what are you doing?"

"Food.", they signed. "Tried to heal you. Failed. Only healed myself. Patched up your wounds."

Indeed, their robe was in poor shape and they obviously had cut off one sleeve to use it as bandages for his injuries and now they tried to feed him, probably hoping that his soul would be able to get replenished by eating.

"Soul doesn't get replenished by eating.", he said. "Only by resting or directly absorbing it from a source. That is why we have the soul statues in the palace.", he said.

They stopped cutting up the Dirtcarver and looked at the Pale King. He didn't need words to know what they wanted to say. "Eating surely won't hurt.", he said. Even though in his current form he had started to cherish food that had been prepared, he had just ate everything raw once. It wouldn't kill him to devour one Dirtcarver, especially when it would make his child happy. "But I want you to eat too.", he said. Hollow was still a growing grub and would need large amounts of energy once their second transformation hit. He wouldn't let them go hungry.

Hollow nodded and soon they were biting down on the Dirtcarver, which soft shell luckily was easy to break through. By tasting the raw meat, the Pale King even could feel some of his old instincts coming back, the desire to hunt and taste fresh blood on his tongue. He couldn't believe how primitive and brutal he once had been. Hollow ate in silence next to him, in their own unique way, which pretty much just looked like their void body absorbed the food. That was probably what they were doing. He needed to finally ask them just how they were eating, but that was a question for another day.

After they were finished, the Pale King got up and took a look at Hollow, their cut robes and the orange stains of infection on their shel as well as his own torn robes, his bandages shimmering through. "We are pretty worn up.", he said and took out the map, until he found the landmark of the lair of the predator, studying it to find the route back to Herrah. Even though he would have preferred to get Hollow home that instant, they seemed to have calmed down and he could only imagine how mad Herrah would get if he wouldn't show up.

"Oh, there is a hot spring on the way.", the Pale King said. "We should stop there, to get cleaned up and heal our injuries. Hot springs are a natural source of soul."

Hollow nodded and the Pale King took a step forwards only to get dizzy and almost fall over. He had lost too much blood. Hollow tried to catch him, but only fell over with him.

"My apologies.", the Pale King said. "I seem to be a bit weaker than I thought..."

Hollow got up, straightened themselves, put their nail into the ground and then lifted him up with a strength he didn't even know they possessed, using their left arm to support him and their nail to prop themselves up, giving him a stare that the Pale King only could interpret as: "Lead the way."

A gladly uneventful, but rather painful journey later, the both of them had arrived at the hot spring. "Finally.", the Pale King said, as Hollow released their grip on them. He opened his robe and let it fall on the ground before stepping into the hot water, already feeling how the natural soul in it seeped into his body and closed the cuts on his arm and his shoulder. As he was in the process to remove the bandages, he saw Hollow joining him.

"I don't know if the hot spring can heal your void body, so better don't take off the bandage around your foot, just in case.", the Pale King said. Hollow nodded and in the natural light of the hot spring, he could see a lot better just how dirty their shell was.

"Hollow, come here.", he said, gesturing for them to come closer, which they did, their empty eyeholes staring at him. "Turn around, I am going to wash your horns."

Hollow did so without hesitating, even sinking a bit deeper into the water, giving the Pale King easier access to their horns. The Pale King started to gently clean their horns with the hot water of the spring, scrubbing off the dirt and especially the chunks of infection that had gotten stuck in the jagged parts. Hollow of course didn't say anything, didn't even move while he worked, but he had the feeling that their former tense posture seemed to relax under his care.

Once he was done, he laid his hands on Hollow's shoulder and said: "There, now you look presentable again."

Hollow nodded and then watched as the Pale King proceeded to wash his own body, mostly making sure that his body would absorb all the soul it could. As he carefully cleaned the area around the King's Brand, not wanting to damage the charm, he noticed that Hollow stared on it or more, at a area slightly beneath it.

"What is it, Hollow?", the Pale King asked, stopping to wash himself and waiting for them to explain. They raised their hands, or stubs, upon their relaxation they seemed to have released the shapeshift. After a few seconds of forcing the void to form fingers again, they signed: "Scar? How?"

The Pale King's face fell a bit upon their question. He had preferred for that question to be asked another time.

"...It was the Radiance.", he murmured, staring down into the hazy water. "I grossly underestimated her and her willingness to attack when I was still a young and clueless wyrm and just had arrived at this kingdom."

He raised a hand and laid it over the scar. He could still feel the pain, shock and panic from back then. "Trying to negotiate, she didn't want to listen and hit me with one heavy blast. I could heal myself with soul, but I used up all of it to heal up the deadly wound. It was the day that I learned that I wouldn't win a direct fight against her."

He removed the hand from his chest and looked at Hollow, which, from the outside, pretty much looked like always, but their stance implied shock. It maybe had been too much for them, he was pretty much their whole world and knowing that he almost died to the enemy they had been supposed to seal...

"F..forget about this.", the Pale King said, noticing that while he had told that tale, he had unintentionally flared his wings. "That hasn't anything to do with you."

Hollow just shook their head and also didn't raise their hands to sign. Instead, they got up, staggering for a tiny moment before catching their balance and then moved behind the Pale King. The Pale King just assumed that they had enough of bathing and wanted to shook the water off, when he felt the icy sensation of their fingers at his wings and winced in surprise.

"What are you doing, Hollow?", he asked. "Be careful, these things are sensitive."

Hollow stopped and tapped his shoulder to get his attention. As he turned around, they signed: "Will wash wings of Father. Father complained about them not easy to wash."

"You remembered that?", the Pale King said, kind of amazed. He had indeed said something to them, shortly after they hatched and he had brought them in the palace, giving them their first bath and having talking to them as if they were a real hatchling and not a mindless construct to seal the Radiance. Well, now he knew they had been a real hatchling. That meant, they must have felt emotions since they had been very young.

Hollow nodded and the Pale King had the feeling they would have said more things, but their hands was busy gently grooming his wings, their icy touch combined with the hot water of the spring a completely new sensation, but not an unpleasant one. So far, he had only allowed his Root to touch his wings. Thinking about it, Hollow's touch was not unlike the one of his Root, proving once more that they were indeed his and his wife's child.

Once they were done and retreated, the Pale King felt not only clean, but also relaxed and bursting with soul. He stood up and shook the water off, walking over to his robes, because he didn't intend to stand in front of Herrah's door naked, even though she had already seen him like that, he didn't want to send the wrong message. To his disdain, his robe was not only torn, but also stained with his blood.

And Hollow's robe didn't look much better, mostly stained with orange infection blotches and that one sleeve completely cut off, having formed his earlier bandages, which were now laying next to the hot spring, soaked and stained with his blood.

"...Let's at least wash them.", the Pale King said and used the water of the hot spring to clean the robes out, removing any stains and then using his soul to dry them, at least enough that they could be worn comfortably again.

He handed Hollow their robe and slipped into his own. "We can't do anything against the cuts.", he sighed. "And I am afraid we have to get a new robe for you." As Hollow let their head hang, he quickly added: "Oh no, don't worry, you did the right thing." Hollow's head perked up again and the Pale King finished his thought: "However, it's better than to stand to stand in front of Herrah's door step naked. She will have to live with our clothes being torn."

After all, it had been a predator in her territory that they owed their current state. Herrah could be glad that it had been infected, had the creature been lucid, it would have seriously worsened the relationship between Deepnest and Hallownest.

As the Pale King studied the map and planned out the route, Hollow stepped next to him and he saw the soul bandage around their foot, a stab of guilt in his chest. That had only happened because he hadn't paid enough attention. Once the Pale King folded the map and put it away, his hand found the one of Hollow and closed around it.

"I won't let go of your hand.", he said and he could feel them squeeze his hand, telling him that they understood.

The rest of the way they didn't get attacked by an infected powerful predator anymore, but Deepnest showed beautifully just why it was so feared by almost all bugs, with Weavers scampering around, appearing from seemingly nowhere, Stalking Devouts demonstrating just how they chopped up their prey as well as the creature known as Corpse Creeper waiting in seemingly harmless husks, that had became prey for another bug, and bursting out when last expected, as well as the ground constantly crumbling and while the Pale King didn't lose Hollow anymore, the moment the ground vanished under them again, Hollow got a good scare.

Now they were finally in front of Herrah's Den and Hollow couldn't help it anymore, they were shaking, finally giving in their fear and nestling against the Pale King, who did his best to calm them down, by rubbing soothing circles in their back.

"There you are.", the voice of Herrah sounded, appearing out of the shadows. "You certainly took your time."

"There is a reason for our delay.", the Pale King said, slipping in his monarch personality, but Herrah's gaze was entirely fixated on Hollow.

"What's wrong with them?", the asked.

"...Deepnest was a bit much...", the Pale King murmured and Herrah scoffed.

"Of course Deepnest would be too much for a child that you treated like a thing until you finally realized how dumb this was. Why did you even make them walk through the entirety of Deepnest when there is a stag station right there? Let me guess, because you didn't want to be seen by anyone in public."

The Pale King shrunk down under her words more and more, each of her words was driving the nail deeper into the coffin.

"Come here, child.", Herrah said, her voice taking on a rather motherly tone. "Let's get you a hot drink and some food to calm you down." The Pale King saw how she gently guided Hollow inside, who turned their head to look at him, with that cocking of their head that portrayed concern.

After a good while had passed, the Pale King managed to get himself together and followed Herrah and Hollow inside, where he found them sitting at a table, Hollow having a steaming cup of ...whatever in front of them as well as something that looked like cookies, but probably was made out of meat. Either way, they didn't seem to care, because their shaking had stopped and they were devouring the "cookies" without a second thought.

"Ah, there you are, wyrm.", Herrah said as she spotted him. "You said there was a reason for your delay. Is it the same reason why the robes of your child are torn?" She gave him another glance and he was sure she narrowed all of her eight eyes under that mask. "Your own don't look much better. How unusual for you to come into another's territory in such an unkempt state."

"We were attacked by an infected predator.", the Pale King said. "It lured is into its lair. Hollow managed to take it out."

"Let me guess. Big, black, with long legs and showed you something you care about to lure you in?", Herrah said. The Pale King nodded and Hollow added by doodling a picture of how the predator looked on their journal, which they apparently had used to converse with Herrah, judging by the few words written in it.

"Nosk, as I was thinking. One of the predators that could rival me, but never dared to attack my den. It always would hunt far away from it."

The Pale King shuddered a bit, how casually Herrah was talking about territorial behaviour, it reminded him once again of the wyrm tribe, only that he had decided to take a much more civilized approach. The reason that Deepnest didn't get along with Hallownest was mainly because they still held on to their instincts, even with a mind to think.

"You must be quite a fighter to have taken it down.", Herrah said, her gaze on Hollow, as opposed as when she was staring the Pale King down, it very much softened once they talked to Hollow.

They just shook their head and wrote something in their journal. Herrah looked at it and said: "What, that wyrm that just sits in his palace and tinkers in his workshop all the time? Unbelievable."

"We can hear everything you say, Herrah...", the Pale King said, not having enough energy to start a full-fledged argument. Herrah always seemed to be able to just put him into her pocket. He kind of found it unbelievable that he really had shared a night with her.

Herrah gave him that glance that looked like she wanted to say "Do I look like I care?" and he could hundred percent believe that this sentence was on the tip of her tongue.

"Whatever.", she said. "You came here for a reason, mainly for the reason that Hollow had the chance to meet their sister."

Hollow nodded and almost fell with their head on the table, balancing themselves with their hands just in time and then signed two words. Herrah looked at the Pale King and he knew that she silently prompted him to translate.

"They want to know where there sister is now.", the Pale King said. In truth Hollow had only signed the words for "sister" and "where", but he decided to embellish their words a bit more.

"Just in the back room.", Herrah said and stood up from the table. "But before we go there, just a minute." Herrah made a sound as if she had clicked her fingers, which felt impossible, because she didn't even had fingers, she was a spider after all, and shortly after, a weaver appeared. "Fix the robes of the king and the child.", she said and the weaver got to work right away, soon the robes of the Pale King had been patched up with spider silk and Hollow's robe even got a whole new sleeve from the same silk. They tugged and prodded at it with interest.

"All your clothes should be made by spider silk.", Herrah said. "You won't find a more sturdy material in the whole of Deepnest."

_It's not like Deepnest would ever offer their silk to us._, the Pale King thought, but didn't enunciate. For now, he decided to stay polite. It was for Hollow's sake after all.

"We thank you very much for your assistance, Herrah.", he said and even gave her a polite bow, which only earned him another one of those Herrah-glances.

"Now, let's get you to meet your sister.", Herrah said, attention at Hollow, who stopped investigating their fixed up robe and looked from Herrah to the Pale King.

"Go.", he just said and saw how one of Herrah's legs gently laid down on Hollow's shoulders and guided them through the room. He himself followed them at a certain distance, fearing a bit that his natural light would upset the child, that had been born in Deepnest and certainly was more used to the darkness, though Herrah's Den wasn't as dark as the rest of Deepnest. For once, he cherished Hollow's void body, that didn't reflect light. They certainly wouldn't upset their little sister with being too bright.

It surely was only a short walk, but for the Pale King it felt unbearable long. He hadn't seen his daughter since she had hatched, wanting to wait for her to grow until inviting her in the White Palace, hoping that Herrah would agree for her to come over and, he had to admit, there had been a part in him that hoped that she would allow him to raise her once she turned dreamer, but he had buried this part deep under his sense of duty. He hadn't even raised the child of himself and his Root right, how should he be able to raise his bastard daughter?

Finally arrived (though it probably only had been a minute or so), Herrah stopped and gestured to a red bundle sitting on the floor, a bright white face with black eyes and two horns starting to grow from the top, similar to Herrah's. She was busy stacking blocks on each other (the Pale King didn't want to know from which bug husk they had been fabricated) and giggled once the whole structure crumpled and fell.

"There, this is my sweet, little Hornet.", Herrah said, nothing but love and devotion in her voice. Hollow just stood there and stared and then raised both hands to their face. The Pale King had never seen them done this before, but he could only assume that they tried to express just how adorable Hornet was for them. "Why don't you go over to her?"

Hollow once again looked back to the Pale King, who gave them a gesture to just go. Now that any danger was averted, they seemed to be full back on their dependency for him, though this was a new situation for them, so he could hardly blame them.

Hollow took a few shaky steps towards Hornet, fidgeting with their hands, then seemed to take a deep breath and took the last few steps to their sister with much more confidence, carefully sitting down next to her. Hornet stopped her game of block stacking to look at the new bug beside her. Hollow raised their hand to wave. Hornet waved back with one of her little spider arms, it was kind of adorable and then she took Hollow's hand and invited them to join her in her game.

"This went better than expected.", the Pale King sighed out, not aware that he had said this out aloud.

"Oh? Did you expect for your child to attack their sister, wyrm?", Herrah said.

"What?! No, of course not.", the Pale King said, wondering how Herrah even could come to that conclusion and remembering that maybe after their union he had rambled about how it was common for wyrm hatchlings to eat their siblings and that Herrah maybe should keep her half wyrm hatchling fed as well as possible. "We were... worried about other stuff."

"I noticed.", Herrah said, crossing her two upper front legs. "All that glancing back to you, being unsure what to say or how to act, waiting for someone, anyone to command them." The Pale King already flinched under her words, feeling that he knew what would come next. "When I took them in, I had to tell them to sit down, had to tell them that it was fine to take from the offered refreshments and had to ask them if they had a way to communicate, because they would literally not move on their own." She gave him another sideway glance. "Wyrm, you have done your best to raise this child into an obedient little knight."

"We know...", the Pale King said, looking at the ground. "We are working on reversing it. It's... a work in progress."

"Good luck trying to get this behaviour out of them.", Herrah said. "Children need love, care and devotion and not being told that they are a mindless construct only there to act as a vessel."

These words hit the Pale King so hard, that he could physically feel them. "We know we haven't been the best father to them...", he started in a weak attempt to defend himself.

"Not the best? Wyrm, that is the understatement of the century. Or the millennia, to put it in a time span that your race understands.", Herrah said and managed to drown out any arguments the Pale King had in stock for the moment.

After a few minutes, he regained his composure and said: "...You were fine with the plan."

"To keep my people... and her..", she gestured at Hornet who was currently clapping at how high Hollow was able to stack the blocks, "safe. I never was fine with your 'methods', wyrm."

"We realized that our methods were wrong.", the Pale King said, trying to put his attention on Hollow and Hornet. This whole conversation was making him feel sick.

"Better late than never.", Herrah said. "However, be aware, that husks in your closet will come to haunt you."

_They already do._, the Pale King thought to himself, not a single day passed where he regretted what had happened in the Abyss. Desperately trying to change the subject, he said: "Hornet has grown quite a bit since we last saw her."

At once, Herrah's tone softened, it was more than clear that Hornet was her world, her everything and that she would do everything for her. Even becoming a dreamer. "Yes, she did had her last molt just recently. I still have her old exoskeleton."

"Herrah, what?", the Pale King said, feeling a tiny bit grossed out. He didn't remember that his parents had collected his molt, but wyrm society was a lot different than bug society. Also, he probably had eaten his molts as a hatchling, anything edible just wasn't safe around wyrm hatchlings. He silently thanked himself that his transformation into bug physiologically had succeeded that far, that at least his children hadn't tried to eat each other. Not that this would have helped them anyhow, they still were very dead in the abyss... He seriously needed to stop thinking about this. He blamed the shape similar to a Vessel he believed to have seen in Nosk's lair.

"Hmph, of course you haven't kept anything personal of your child, being too busy to convince them to be, you know, the Vessel."

Ah, there they were again. The Pale King had to admit, he never had cleaned out the void chrysalis that Hollow had hatched from into their current adolescent form. Back then he had just convinced himself that he didn't had time for it, but nowadays he knew that he had grown attached and wanted to keep that sign of their development. He didn't try to engage into another conversation with Herrah and instead watched Hollow and Hornet.

Hornet had lost interest in her block stacking game and had became far more engrossed by Hollow, or more, their horns. They had lowered their head for her to take a better look and she examined especially the jagged parts, seeming to be fascinated by them. It made sense for the Pale King, she only knew her own horns and that of her mother, which were smooth, how Hollow's horn jagged at three places was something completely new for the little spiderling.

"They seem to like each other.", Herrah said. "I haven't seen Hornet that fascinated since a while."

The Pale King just nodded, not taking his gaze of his children. Looking at Hornet like this, still a tiny grub, not even able to talk properly yet, just reminded him how hard he had tried to convince himself that Hollow was nothing but an empty vessel, damaging them and their relationship in the process. He had never allowed them to be a child, raised them for a purpose and only realized how wrong he had acted when they already had reached their adolescence. The Pale King suddenly understood just why Quirrel had advised against letting them visit a school, they were emotionally certainly not ready for it, not only because of their dependency, but also because he had never allowed them to be a normal child and now that he allowed it, they had trouble getting the concept and it was his fault alone.

After Hornet had enough of Hollow's horn and they raised again (not with almost falling over the other way, which made Hornet giggle), she tugged on their robes. Hollow looked at the Pale King and Herrah and the Pale King knew this gaze, they were asking for advice, or more, asking how to act.

"She wants you to pick her up.", Herrah said and as Hollow cocked their head at her, she added: "It's fine, she is a sturdy little grub. Just yesterday she climbed the cupboard and didn't had a single scratch when she fell down."

Now the Pale King gave Herrah a side glance and that after she had lectured him about bad parenting, but then he remembered that Herrah was half spider and spiders just never seemed to get hurt when they fell down. Also, he doubted that Herrah would have let Hornet done something she deemed dangerous.

Hollow carefully extended their arms and searched for a way to pick Hornet up. Once they managed, the grub flinching a bit, surely because of the sudden coldness, they gently sat her down on their lap. Hornet looked up at them for a brief moment and then cuddled their face in their robes.

It was more than adorable and the Pale King averted his gaze, feeling his face blush, as all these feelings about his children, both of them, threatened to spill over, but was pushed forwards by Herrah.

"Why are you standing there, wyrm? These are your children, you should join them."

He took a few shaky steps towards them, realizing just how much he acted liked Hollow earlier when he caught himself fidgeting with his claws, almost falling over his own tail when it wrapped around his legs. Then, he followed Hollow's example and took a deep breath, covering the last few steps with a newfound confidence, sitting down to both of his children.

"Hollow, do you like your sister?", the Pale King asked, knowing that Hornet was still a bit too young to answer any questions. They nodded and if they had been able to smile, the Pale King was sure they would have done it. Hornet stared at him with wide eyes, that eyes that only grubs could have and Hollow picked her up from their lap and offered for him to take her.

"Um..", the Pale King said, being ready to jump up and hide behind Herrah, "What if she gets fuzzy..."

"You are her father, wyrm.", Herrah sighed. "Just hold her."

So, the Pale King complied and gently took Hornet into his arms, she was a lot warmer than he anticipated and tugged at his robes, clearly being interested in them. Hollow sat next to the Pale King, their gaze on their sister and he could feel Herrah's watchful gaze on him, but mostly he was amazed. How this little grub, that came from an union between him and the queen of Deepnest, could feel so comfortable in his arms. He decided to just cherish this moment, for once not thinking about anything he would regret, thinking about that Hornet would be able to grow up with her mother and maybe, when she was older, even visit the White Palace, and if only to play with Hollow.

After a while Hornet had enough from getting cuddled and demanded to be sat down by rather loud chirping, which the Pale King did. The little spiderling dashed with an awesome speed to her mother which picked her up and said: "Well, I think that was enough excitement for her. I should try and lay her down for a nap."

Herrah then excused herself and left the room, leaving the Pale King and Hollow alone.

"Father.", Hollow signed. "I don't understand one thing."

"What is it you don't understand?", the Pale King asked.

Hollow signed a few words and then shook their head, clearly unsatisfied with how they formed the sentence and instead flipped their journal out.

"Herrah said she is Hornet's mother, but she is my sister, so why isn't my mother also Hornet's mother?"

"Um.", the Pale King said, having preferred to explain it to them at another date. "It is true that Hornet is the daughter of Herrah. The daughter of Herrah and... me. We could say, the two of you are... half siblings, you share one parent."

Hollow stared at the Pale King and then wrote another sentence: "Does that mean Herrah is a homewrecker?"

The Pale King had a bit of trouble believing his own eyes as he stared down at their journal: "Who even taught you this word?!"

(Author's note: A big thanks to dreamlikequality from tumblr who inspired me to add the scene with Nosk.

A thing about Hollow is, that I really enjoy the challenge of writing them as mute and not being able to form any expressions, so that I need to think about several factors when they want to talk. Their sign language improved in this chapter, but their sentences are still easy and simple. However, I am not perfect, so if you want to add anything to how to write a mute character and how to handle sign language, feel free to tell me.

Hornet is still young in this chapter, young enough to not being able to talk yet, I would say as a human child she would be around one year old.

It was my first time writing Herrah and as one of the characters we don't know much about, a lot of it is headcanon based, but I hope you enjoy my interpretation of her.

Please tell me your thoughts and favourite parts of that chapter in the comments down below. Thank you very much.)


	8. Chapter 8

Summary: After returning from Deepnest the Pale King gets confronted by his knights about Hollow.

(Author's note: This chapters are getting longer and longer, and while this one doesn't match the length of chapter 7, it still is pretty huge. I just have so much to tell! One of the scenes in here I actually had planned far earlier, but only now felt like the right time to include it.

By the way, I can't believe that you all like Homewrecker Herrah as much as me and I even got some fanart, drawn by ninvic-0. Thank you very much!

Attempt at link: post/618657740196315136/some-doodles-for-mrslittletall-s-off-balance-new)

"Nobody.", Hollow signed, the way they sorted out their shaky fingers the Pale King had to assume they weren't exactly truthful.

"Hollow, are you lying to me?", he asked.

Hollow flinched and then shook their head, also raising their hands to sign out the word no.

While the Pale King had some doubts, there wasn't exactly any reason for Hollow to lie to him. Maybe nobody had taught this word to them and they simply had overheard it somewhere. He was even a bit proud that they stood up to him, if they were truthful or not, it was a big step on their way to becoming their own person.

"Fine, I believe you. You have no reason to lie to me.", the Pale King said. "I just want to say, you can't toss this word around like that. The relationship between Herrah and me was political and not-"

The Pale King stopped talking when Herrah entered the room and said: "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing.", the Pale King said without hesitation and he saw Hollow cock their head in a way that felt like they were judging him. He just didn't want to explain to Herrah that Hollow had called her a homewrecker, he would never hear the end of it.

"Say, Hollow, did you have fun today?", Herrah said and Hollow nodded enthusiastically, the Pale King extended one arm and pulled them back into place by tugging at their robe when they threatened to fall over.

"It seems like there is some hope for you, Wyrm.", Herrah said.

Hollow signed a few words and Herrah glanced to the Pale King for a translation. "They want to know if they can say goodbye to their sister.", he said.

"Sure, why not.", Herrah said. "She seems to like Hollow already. However, she is sleeping at the moment and I don't want to lay her down again, so they have to be as quiet as possible."

"I was trained to be quiet.", Hollow signed and stood up, walking over to Herrah with an upbeat step.

"What have they said?", Herrah asked and the Pale King felt a bead of sweat form on his forehead.

"Uh, that they will be sure not to wake Hornet up.", he said.

"Then come.", Herrah said and took Hollow's arm. The Pale King followed them in some distance, doubting that Herrah would let him into the baby's room, his light was too bright.

Indeed, Herrah stopped him at the doorway and gestured only for Hollow to go insight. "She is sleeping in the crib.", she said. The Pale King narrowed his eyes and tried to see in the dark, seeing a red bundle sleeping soundly in the aforementioned crib. The floor of the room was littered with toys, which made the Pale King wonder if he should get Hollow any toys. Technically, their body was too old to be considered playing with grub toys, but they never had been allowed to be a little grub. He wondered what kind of toys Hollow would like.

Hollow went over to the crib and proofed their skills to be quiet, by barely making any sound. They looked down at Hornet for a minute or two and then tucked the baby in, not unlike the Pale King used to tuck them in whenever he brought them to bed. The baby cooed and grabbed on the blankets. Hollow stood there a few seconds longer, probably enraptured before they went back to the door.

After all three of them were back in the visitor area, Hollow signed: "Can sister come visit us?"

"They want to know if Hornet can come visit us in the palace.", the Pale King translated, fearing that the answer would be negative.

"I consider it.", Herrah said, to the Pale King's surprise. "Hornet seems to like you and the thought of the wyrm dragging you through Deepnest again makes my exoskeleton crawl."

The Pale King flinched under her words, while Hollow clapped their hands together in excitement. The Pale King had to admit, he was rather glad about Herrah maybe allowing Hornet to come visit him, as with Hollow, he had tried to stay distant, but he rather cared for the the little spiderling that was also his daughter. Besides, he had the feeling his Root would like to see the little energetic bundle too.

"You have our thanks for your hospitality, Herrah.", the Pale King said and gave her a bow, if she liked or not.

"Yeah, yeah, cut all that court stuff.", Herrah said, "Before you leave, make sure that your child is fine and that all of their needs are met. And please, consider to not leading them through Deepnest to the tram again. Take the stag station instead."

"Speaking of the tram, what is holding up the construction of the station near your den, Herrah?", the Pale King asked.

"Oh, my citizens simply told them that they don't like the idea.", Herrah said and her voice betrayed a smirk under her mask. The Pale King froze, that meant that there probably were heavy attacks against the workers. He made a mental note to break off the works, at least until the relationship with Deepnest had stabilized. He had enough victims on his hands already.

After making sure that Hollow was ready to go, they said their goodbyes to Herrah and left the den. The Pale King took the few steps that would lead them to the stag station and then had to stop, anxiety rising in his chest at the though of having to alight at the busy station near the White Palace as well as some nausea rising up in him. "Ugh, I don't think I can do this...", he said, Hollow staring at him with eyeholes that seemed to display concern.

After the Pale King had calmed down, Hollow had been a great help, buy sitting him down and holding his claw in their hand, they signed: "Father. We can leave with tram. I can do it."

"Thank you, Hollow.", the Pale King said, getting up. "This time I won't lose you, I promise."

As they once again crossed Deepnest, making a break at the bench near the hot spring, Hollow signed: "Father, why do you not like stag station?"

"Different reasons.", the Pale King replied. "Mostly too many bugs. They make me nervous. I prefer worship from far away, not up close. Then, the stags themselves. They don't like the trams. I feel judged by them."

Hollow signed: "That is all?"

"...you got me.", the Pale King said. "The first time I rode on the stags after establishing them, I got really really sick. It wasn't... one of my most elegant moments."

Hollow put their hand over the part of their mask where there mouth would be and made a movement that could be considered a chuckle, one that wasn't heard of course.

"I am just glad my Root was with me to shield me from any curious views.", the Pale King said, trailing along one of his prongs. "Come, Hollow, let's continue."

A walk later the both of them were back in the tram and Hollow had pretty much instantly fallen asleep, leaning against the form of the Pale King, clinging to his arm. It was kind of adorable and so the Pale King didn't dare to move, to not wake them while the tram approached their destination. It had been a long day for them and they must have been very exhausted. Besides, he didn't want to wake them, they looked so peaceful sleeping leaned against him, he still could hardly fathom how they could put so much trust in him.

Though, with nobody to talk to, the Pale King lapsed into thoughts, especially all the things that Herrah had said to him. She had been right with every single sentence, it had felt like he was stabbed by several nails at once, but he knew that she was right. How much his distance had hurt Hollow, how dumb he had been to believe that he could create an empty being, in short, what an awful father he had been to them. He looked down at their sleeping form and softly caressed one of their horns. He wanted to make it up to them, but he had the feeling that he could never make up the emotional (and physical, when he thought about the path of pain) abuse he had put them through.

He still planned to do his very best to at least be a good father to them now and to not making them cry again. Which... had happened just today when he had lost them at Deepnest and they had been so shaken and scared and then he had collapsed in front of them and they had to take care of him. The already tight feeling in the Pale King's chest only got tighter and he had to take a deep breath to avoid falling into a full blown panic.

The rest of the ride the Pale King studied Hollow's sleeping body, they couldn't close the eyes in their shell, but he could see the regular heaving of their chest, indicating that they indeed were fast asleep and not dead. He had seen enough dead vessels already and he didn't want to be Hollow one of them and he seriously needed to stop thinking about the bodies in the abyss. He blamed the shape that looked like a vessel he had seen in Nosk's lair.

The tram came to a stop and the doors slid open. As much as it pained the Pale King, he had to wake up Hollow so that they could walk back to him with the palace, but they were dead out, not reacting to him gently nudging them at all. Instead of trying further to wake them, the Pale King lifted them up to carry them on his back. They seemed to sense the shift in posture, because he could feel their arms wrapping around him, laying their head on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Hollow, it is only a short walk and then we can get you to bed.", the Pale King said in a soft voice, not that his voice ever had been loud, but it was barely above a whisper.

The Pale King hadn't even covered half the distance to the palace when Hollow on his back stirred, raised their head and then pretty much shot up, losing their balance and making the Pale King trip, having a rather painful impact with the ground because his hands had been busy holding Hollow and he didn't exactly had thought about his extra hands hidden under the robe. He briefly wondered if that was how Hollow felt all the time.

As he turned around, he saw Hollow signing "Sorry sorry sorry" over and over again, like back in Deepnest.

"Stop this.", he said and they stopped in an instant. "Are you hurt, Hollow?"

They slowly shook their head and then raised a shaky hand to point at him or more precisely, at his forehead. As the Pale King raised his own hand to check it out, he noticed a bit of his white blood on his claws. "That won't be any trouble.", the Pale King said and focused his soul to heal the minor injury in mere seconds. "See, nothing bad happened. Can you walk?"

Hollow slowly nodded and then got up, coming closer to him, but not moving any further, pretty much standing there as still as a statue.

"...Do you want to take my hand?", the Pale King said and offered it to his child. Said child finally started to move and took it into its own one. As the Pale King continued walking, with Hollow in tow, he wondered why they just hadn't asked to hold his hand, but of course, it was because they weren't used to voice their own desires. He had to tell them that they never had to feel bad for wanting physical contact with their parents. He was sure that his Root would wholeheartedly agree.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. In front of the palace some of the royal retainers bowed to the both of them and then hurried to carry out their duties. Not deep into the palace the Pale King could spot the White Lady.

"How has your trip been, you two?", the White Lady asked and then frowned as she noticed the state of both of their robes, clearly being stitched with spider silk. "Did something happen?"

"I'll tell you later, Root.", the Pale King said. "For now, I need to take care of Hollow. Let some tea and snacks be delivered by the retainers, we meet on the balcony."

The White Lady nodded and looked after the both of them until they were out of sight. While the Pale King had preferred to get Hollow into bed right away, there was another thing he needed to do first, so he led them to his workshop.

As they entered and Hollow cocked their head in that questioning way, he sat them down on his chair. "Your foot.", he said. "I need to take care of it. Don't move."

After he had said that, he went to search through the mess of paper and tablets he had scattered in his work shop, trying to repurpose the sealing spell, until he finally found a bottle with some void. As he returned to Hollow, they sat there as stiff as a statue, literally not moving.

"You can relax, Hollow.", the Pale King said. "I just wanted for you to not leave the chair."

Hollow's posture relaxed at once and it felt like they released a breath they had been holding, making the Pale King frown. They had tried so hard to be the Vessel, that they even tortured themselves.

"Show me your foot.", the Pale King said and they lifted the injured foot. The Pale King had noticed that they had limped with that foot since they had left the tram, the soul bandage could only prevent the injury from leaking, but not heal it. The Pale King dispelled the soul bandage and coated the foot in void.

Their body went to work right away and absorbed the void into it, filling the cut and only leaving smoothness behind. "There.", the Pale King said. "Soul can't heal void, but void can. Now, let's get you to bed."

Hollow, who had looked at their foot and seemed to be fascinated, touching and testing the healed area, nodded and slid off the chair, almost falling over in the process.

"Easy there.", the Pale King said, laying a hand on their shoulder and gently guiding them out of the room. "You need some sleep."

Arrived at their room, Hollow slipped out of their robes, carefully hanging it over the nearest chair before walking to their bed and slipping under the blankets. The Pale King followed them, glancing at the robe, they surely needed a replacement, and sat down at the edge of their bed.

"Good night, Hollow.", the Pale King said, stroking their horn. Hollow didn't even react anymore, they had fallen asleep instantly, indicating just how exhausted they must have been. The Pale King tucked them in and watched them for a few more minutes, his tail swinging around as he recalled the events of the days and how scared he had been at losing them. He only stopped the nervous swinging when his tail got caught at something under the bed. The Pale King carefully got up and lowered himself to his knees to look under the bed. His natural light revealed several books.

With his curiosity piqued, the Pale King grabbed one of the books, maybe that has been how Hollow had taught themselves to read and write, but the book he was pulling out from under the bed wasn't an educational book. Instead, it was a cheesy romance story.

The Pale King opened the book to read the summary which only confirmed that it was a romance story full of cliches and when he went to investigate the other books, they all turned out to be equally cheesy romance novels.

"Huh, so that is where they learned the word...", the Pale King said and put the books back under the bed. He didn't had a clue while Hollow was hiding them, they weren't from the "adult sort", in fact, he was a bit glad that they did something without him knowing, but he didn't want to let them get the impression he wouldn't approve of their lecture, even though he had the feeling he should introduce them to a bit more... better books.

The Pale King got up and gave Hollow's horn a last stroke before he left the room, intending to meet up with his Root. As he was on his way to his own quarters first, to put on a not torn robe, he was approached by two of his great knights, Ogrim and Isma.

"Oh, you are back.", he said. "Can you give us our reports tomorrow? Our queen is waiting for us."

"It isn't about the report.", Ogrim said. "We already gave it to the queen, she can inform you, your highness. We wanted to ask about the Hollow Knight."

The Pale King flinched, physically flinched and hoped that it hadn't been too obvious.

"What about them?", he asked.

"...We know that they couldn't continue their training with us because of their balance problems.", Isma said. "But their balance problems are a lot better and we believe we could teach them to keep their balance while fighting better, however..."

Isma glanced to Ogrim who continued: "You have started to treat the Hollow Knight differently. It started with them taking in their meals with you and the queen and they have this lessons with Lady Monomon's assistant and right now we have seen you entering their room while guiding them..."

"Your majesty.", Isma said, her voice firm and steady. "We have talked with the Royal Retainers in our absence and they told us that you were treating the Hollow Knight more like an heir than a weapon. We would like to know that the meaning of this is."

The Pale King flinched a tiny little bit before regaining his composure, he couldn't falter in front of his knights. He knew that it would have come to this, his knights would liked to have some answers, while the supposed weapon against the infection wasn't treated as such anymore.

"We believe that you deserve an answer.", the Pale King said. "All of the five knights. Come see us tomorrow one hour after breakfast. We will tell you everything."

"Thank you, your majesty.", Isma said and bowed. Ogrim joined her bow and added: "We will inform Hegemol, Ze'mer and Dryya of your summoning."

"You are dismissed.", the Pale King murmured, heart feeling heavy in his chest. That would feel awkward having to explain to the knights what he had almost done to his own child.

Not long after this conversation, the Pale King had put on some fresh robes and joined his Root on their favourite balcony, where she was waiting with tea and pastry, the smell truly wonderful in comparison with Herrah's indefinable Deepnest cookies.

He sat down next to the White Lady, who poured him a cup of tea and smiled at him: "There you are, my Wyrm."

"Thank you, my Root.", he said, taking a sip from the still steaming hot tea, calming down a bit. "You surely want to hear about our trip."

"Mostly I want to know why your robes have been all torn.", the White Lady said, picking up some pastry to nibble on while her other branch rested on his shoulder.

"...I lost Hollow to Deepnest.", the Pale King said, staring in his tea cup which he held with both of his hands. He could feel how his Root's touch hardened. "It wasn't on purpose, of course!", he quickly said. "However, when I was searching for them, I managed to cross paths with a predator that used their face to lure me into their lair, an infected one on top... I... shouldn't have had trouble to take them down, but because they were using Hollow's face, I was frozen and couldn't fight back..." The Pale King put his tea cup down and buried his face in his hands. "It was Hollow who came to my rescue. It was them who took the predator down. I think they didn't even knew how they did it..."

The Pale King noticed that he had started to shiver and he had slung his tail around his legs several times. The White Lady gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"So that is why your robes were torn.", she said and then led her branch under the Pale King's robe, investigating the area where the cuts have been. "At least I don't detect any injuries, so you were able to heal yourself.", she stated.

"Actually...", the Pale King said, "I was out of soul after the fight, my last reserves were used to bandage up Hollow. They brought me to a hot spring where I could heal up."

"How was Hollow taking the whole experience?", the White Lady asked, retracting her branches and giving her husband a hug instead.

"They were scared, but they put their fear away in favour of me and bravely fought the predator. We can truly be proud of their abilities, they are a natural with the nail and with soul, they just lack experience. In a sense, the fight probably was good to hone their abilities, but I feel awful for having lost them in the first place... That.. shouldn't have been their first real fight."

"The important thing is that both of you are safe.", the White Lady said and pulled the Pale King a bit closer before picking up a pastry and handing it to him. "Here, my Wyrm, you need to try these, they are surely divine."

"If a Higher Being says that, I am bound to believe that.", the Pale King said and tried the pastry, which really had the right amount of sweetness and crispness. He had the feeling that Hollow would love them.

"So, how are Herrah and Hornet?", the White Lady asked. "I hope Herrah hasn't teased you too much."

Upon hearing his wife's words, the current bite got stuck in the Pale King's throat and he quickly drank some more tea to avoid choking. The White Lady chuckled at his side, with one of her branches in front of her mouth. "Judging by your reaction, Herrah hasn't minced her words."

"Not one bit.", the Pale King confirmed. "At least she was very kind to Hollow. Hollow seemed to enjoy being in her presence and playing with their sister. They even wanted to say goodbye to her. If not for them falling over so much, I could imagine them taking care of Hornet once in a while. The little grub has quite grown since I last saw her... and... she is so warm. I forgot how warm little grubs used to be..."

"Oh, Herrah has let you hold her?", the White Lady asked.

"It was more that she prompted me to hold her. After all, I am her father... even though she was conceived for a political alliance..."

"Little Hornet reminds me a lot of you, actually.", the White Lady said. "I hope that Herrah will be fine with her visiting the palace once she is older."

"She might be.", the Pale King said. "She hinted that Hornet surely would like to play with Hollow again."

"I see that your trip was a success then.", the White Lady smiled.

"It had some bumps, but yes, I assume..", the Pale King said, taking another sip of the tea. "By the way, Root, have you observed that Hollow became more independent lately?"

"Other than that we don't have to tell them to sit down anymore when we eat together, not much.", the White Lady said. "It only has been a week, they surely need some more time."

"I think they already might have broken their dependency on me a bit.", the Pale King said. "When Herrah took Hornet to lay her down to sleep, they wanted to know the details about how Hornet is related to them and when I explained it to them, they asked me if Herrah is a homewrecker."

The White Lady stared at him and then broke into a cheerful laugh: "Oh, that is too wonderful, I wonder how Herrah will react when I tell her."

"Please don't!", the Pale King put both of his hands into the air in a pleading gesture. "Anyway, I surely haven't taught them this word and you surely haven't taught it to them either." The White Lady shook her head, confirming it wasn't her.

"Maybe it was their teacher, Quirrel.", she assumed.

"I thought about asking him too and berating him for teaching our child inappropriate words, but in fact, I found all these cheesy romance novels under her bed." As the White Lady frowned, he added: "None of the juicy ones, don't worry."

"So they have secretly read this novels and that is where they have learned the word.", the White Lady said. "While I don't exactly approve with their choice of literature, that they were choosing it themselves and didn't even told us, is something a child their age usually does. I think we can consider this a breakthrough."

"I know and I am so glad about it.", the Pale King sighed and leaned back to cuddle against his Root. "I want them to be happy. It's the least I can do, after I have been such a bad father to them... Especially because they are our last living offspring..." As he felt his Root flinch, he added: "I am sorry, Root, I know you were never fine with the plan, I shouldn't have forced you..."

"Wyrm, what are you talking about?", the White Lady asked. "You never forced me to have a part in the plan. That I agreed to it was my own conscious decision."

The Pale King rose from his position and stared at his Root: "It was?"

"...I never told you this, but... our children had a high mortality rate anyway, because they would be hybrids, no matter what we did. I... thought, that it wouldn't be too bad to experiment with them, when half of them died anyway and there would only one of them picked to be the Vessel. I assumed that there would be enough children left for us to love, so that we can forget about the awful sacrifices. I never had anticipated that only one of them would survive..."

"Root.", the Pale King said, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. "And here I thought all the time that you resented the part of me that went through with the plan..."

"It must have been evem harder for you.", the White Lady embraced the Pale King and wiped his tears with her sleeve. "You were in the middle of all the experiments, I only sowed my spores and then detached myself."

The Pale King nestled in his Root's embrace, but his tears didn't stop to fall: "I have let them fall, Root... I did nothing to save them..."

The White Lady replied simply buy pulling him tighter into the hug: "You did what you thought you had to do, my Wyrm..."

"...Compassion would have tainted them.", he mumbled, feeling how his Root's branches stroked over his back and gently touched his wings, not saying anything anymore, just embracing him, waiting for him to calm down.

After what felt like an eternity had passed, the sobbing of the Pale King ceased and he raised his head, wiping the tears off his face with his sleeve. "When is the last time you cried in my arms?", the White Lady asked, getting out a handkerchief which she handed to him. The Pale King gratefully accepted it and mumbled: "When I asked you to marry me and you said yes."

"Are you feeling better now?", the White Lady asked, which actually gave the Pale King some food for thought. He was still feeling awful for what happened to the Vessel, he was still feeling awful for how he treated Hollow, he still had Herrah's voice ringing in his ears, calling him out on his failings, but for some reason, he felt lighter.

"Yes. In a way.", he replied and gave his Root her handkerchief back after he had dried his face.

"...Maybe sometimes it is better to cry it out.", his Root said, breaking the embrace. "Bottling it all up... can't be healthy. For the both of us."

"You are sounding like Monomon.", the Pale King said with a chuckle.

"I may have spend some time with her assistant lately.", the White Lady said. "It surely won't hurt you to see Monomon and talk to her. Oh, and take Hollow with you."

The Pale King cocked his head as he stared at his wife. "You already have figured this all out, haven't you?", he said before falling silent again, leaning his head against his Root as he remembered his earlier conversation with the knights. "Root, there is something else...", he murmured.

"Yes?", the White Lady asked, her gaze directed on him, worry shining in her blue eyes.

"The knights have caught on that we treat Hollow differently.", he sighed. "I promised them to tell them the truth the next day."

"Do you want me to be present?", his Root asked without hesitation.

"You wouldn't mind?", the Pale King asked and the White Lady traced one of his prongs.

"Of course. That is a matter that concerns the three of us.", she said. "Besides, Dryya usually won't leave my side when I am in the palace. She is even guarding the door right now."

"True.", the Pale King said, smiling as he thought about Dryya's protectiveness. Dryya would follow his Root at the end of the world and back, so loyal was she and still, she managed to be an individual, with her own feelings, not afraid of speaking her mind, acting as a leader to any troupes she had been assigned to. Secretly the Pale King wished that Hollow could pick up some mannerisms of her, though, that would only made them a copy of Dryya and surely not their own person. Why did parenthood had to be so complicated?

"You had a long day today, so I would like to see you in bed on time.", the White Lady said as she poured him another cup of tea.

"I was planning to.", the Pale King said, taking a sip from the tea, already feeling drowsy. Had she used her sleeping spores again? "I can't concentrate on battling the infection today anyway. I heard the knights have given you their reports, how about you tell me about them while we finish this tea?"

After a good night's sleep (definitely sleeping spores, he didn't even had nightmares this time), the Pale King met up with Hollow and informed them of the meeting with the knights, because he wanted them to be present for it. The White Lady also had suggested to get Quirrel in, so that he could easily translate their sign language, which the pill bug gladly agreed to. After they had their breakfast, the Pale King went through what he wanted to say and repeatedly told Hollow to only speak when he prompted them to, as if they wouldn't do it anyway. The hour until the meeting with the knights passed more quickly than the Pale King was comfortable with and he might have had a cup of coffee too much, because on the way to the throne room he was positively jittery.

"I should think twice to let you have coffee before an important meeting.", the White Lady said. "It makes me wonder if I have two children."

It had been an attempt at an light hearted joke, but as soon as the words were out, she realized her mistake and her, the Pale King and Hollow looked at the ground rather awkwardly, walking the rest of the way in silence. Only once they entered the throne room, the White Lady spoke again. "Anyway.", she said, taking her seat next to the Pale King. "Let's give our best that everything will go well."

"I hope that it will...", the Pale King said, sitting down on his throne and realizing that once again his tail had curled around his feet. That became a daily occurrence lately. As he still was busy to physically untangle his tail from his legs, he noticed that Hollow had taken their place at his side, standing there as stiff as a statue.

"Um, you can relax, Hollow.", the Pale King said and then was met with stares of both his child and his wife, noticing that he still had his tail in his hands.

"You are one to talk, dear.", the White Lady chuckled.

The Pale King quickly let go of his tail which tangled around his legs again and accepted his fate. "Let's get this over with.", he whispered to himself, looking at Hollow, who still stood stiff next to him and to his Root, who sat on her own throne looking beautiful and regal.

Soon after they all had taken their spots, there was a knock on the door, but it weren't the knights, instead, it was Quirrel, which made the Pale King breath out in relief of having a little more time. Quirrel came in and then stood a little away from Hollow, near enough to see their signing, but far enough to not intrude in their personal space or make him seem associated with the royal family. The Pale King could see him sign a few words to Hollow which he couldn't make out in the moment, Hollow signed something back and then their posture seemed to relax just a tiny bit.

Not even two minutes later a second knock was heard and this time it were the five great knights, Ogrim was the first to enter, followed by Isma and then Dryya. Then Ze'mer entered and the last one to come into was Hegemol. They all lined themselves up and then sank down to their knees. The Pale King rose from his throne and said: "Please rise."

After all five of them had risen up, the Pale King folded his hands on his back and spoke: "We have asked for your presence at this place at this hour, because both Ogrim and Isma have spoken of some concern to us, regarding the Hollow Knight." The Pale King gestured to Hollow, which was back to standing as stiff and straight as possible. He noticed that their robes still had the fixed arm of spider silk, there hadn't been enough time to organize them a new one.

"That is correct.", Ogrim spoke. "Your majesty, from what you have told us, the Hollow Knight is a weapon against the infection, so we have been rather confused as how you have interacted with it lately."

Isma nodded along to his words and Hegemol and Dryya were whispering to each other while Ze'mer's gaze was entirely locked on Hollow.

"These words have been true, once.", the Pale King said. "The Hollow Knight had been intended to be our weapon against the infection, more precisely, to contain the infection, sealed away so that it would never be able to threaten our kingdom ever again. However...", the Pale King took a deep breath before continuing. "We had to realize that the being we thought had been empty had been tainted by our feelings for it... it had started to develop a mind of its own, it had started to feel. After all, we couldn't deny anymore that Hollow is our child."

There, it was out. He had said it. His Root had been rather positive, but when the Pale King looked at his knights all he could see what shock, across five faces, with the one who was dumbfounded the most being Ogrim.

"...Your majesty.", Ogrim spoke. "Have you just told us that the weapon against the infection is your own child?"

"Correct.", the Pale King said, trying to sound as detached as possible, not letting the whirlwind of emotions inside of him showing through. "It was necessary for the Vessel to be a being that was born of a god and void."

"That is not the point.", Ogrim spoke and his face darkened, the normally so jolly warrior looked legitimately furious. "The point is, that you planned to sacrifice your own child."

"Your majesty, is Ogrim correct with his observations?", Isma asked. "Have you planned to use your own child to fight the infection?" Isma's voice had been calm, but the Pale King couldn't miss how much weight she had given to the word child.

"Yes, unfortunately.", the Pale King said. "That had been the plan. Though, we don't hold onto this plan anymore. It was bound to fail anyway."

"So.", Hegemol spoke from the background, his voice gentle as ever, but a certain shakiness in them. "You are telling us that you experimented on your own child to create the so called Hollow Knight."

"Yes.", the Pale King said once again, looking downwards, having trouble to keep eye contact with his knights before raising his head and locking his gaze on all five of them again. "We exposed Hollow to the void, altering their body, however, the void wasn't able to alter their mind. We realized the errors of our ways, Hollow will not be send to contain the infection."

"Like I already said, that isn't the point.", Ogrim spoke again, this time his voice was shaking. "The point is. Your majesty, how could you do something that cruel to your own child?!"

The question hit the Pale King as hard as had someone hurled a brick at him. How had he done it? By being sure that the plan would work. By trying to detach himself. By telling himself that no cost would be too great. By trying to convince himself that the impure ones were disposable. In truth, all the dead children from the abyss haunted him in his nightmares, in truth, he had feared so much that he would taint the one pure vessel that had ascended, in truth, he hated what he had done, what he was about to do, but he had to save his kingdom.

"No cost should have been too great so save our kingdom.", he mumble, reciting that mantra that he had recited to himself over and over again, knowing that there indeed was a cost to great, to his knights.

He could see how Ze'mer, who yet had to talk glanced at Isma and Hegemol laid a hand on Ogrim's shoulder who now was shaking with rage. Instead of him, it was Dryya who spoke first. "Mylady.", she addressed the queen. "Why did you let this happen? Have you been..." Dryya didn't finish the sentence, but the Pale King knew that she wanted to ask if he had forced his wife into participating. He himself had even thought it had been true a day prior.

"I assure you, my fierce Dryya, that my involvement in the creation of the Pure Vessel was my own conscious decision. It was my husband who proposed the plan to me, but he never forced me to partake. I believed that the plan could save our kingdom."

"You can't be serious!", Ogrim hissed out. "Both of you! How could you ever had thought you did the right thing?!"

The Pale King flinched at his words, but straightened himself up right away. He had to stay regal in front of his knights, as justified as Ogrim's anger was, he couldn't let him talk down to him like that. He narrowed his eyes and spoke: "Watch your tongue, Ogrim of the five great knights. We understand your outrage, but we can't let you speak to us and especially our wife in such a tone."

Ogrim opened his mouth, but before he could say another word, Isma spoke. "Wait, we haven't heard what the child has to say about this matter." She made a few steps close to Hollow and said in a gentle voice. "Can you tell us how you feel about the actions of your parents?"

Hollow looked to the Pale King. They still stood there pretty stiff and the Pale King noticed that Quirrel next to them had taken in a rather awkward stance. The Pale King knew that Hollow was waiting for his permission, so he nodded to them.

"I will translate directly what you have to say.", Quirrel said. They nodded to him and then started to sign.

"I am not mad at father and mother. My whole life I thought I should be the Hollow Knight." Quirrel interrupted himself and then continued translating with a rather shaky voice: "No.. thinking is bad.. my whole life I was trained to be the Hollow Knight, but I turned out to be impure. It was me who failed, it is my own fault, my fault alone. Because I couldn't stop thinking."

As Quirrel finished talking, all the eyes were on Hollows and Quirrel said in a low voice: "Um, Hollow, do you want to talk later...?"

"Your majesty!", Ogrim said in a booming voice, cutting through the eerie silence. "This child thinks they are to blame. This child thinks they are at fault because you have told them that they are not even a living being. There is no way that you can excuse your actions. You... abused your own child!"

"We don't deny that we have treated the Hollow purely at first.", the Pale King had to admit. "However, we realized that our actions were wrong. We are aware that we have hurt Hollow greatly and we aspire to never stoop so low again. Both us and our Root have accepted them as our child, we won't let any harm come into their way anymore."

"That still is not the point.", Ogrim growled. "That you have stopped doesn't mean that you can ask for forgiveness that easily. I... don't even get why that child can call you father so easily, they should hold nothing but disdain for you!"

Yes, that was what the Pale King also thought he deserved. How Hollow didn't hate him, but instead loved him, was over his head. He didn't had an answer for Ogrim and turned his head to the side when he heard Quirrel mutter: "Oh dear... I... shall I really translate that..."

"They deserve to have a voice after we have taken that from them." the Pale King muttered.

"Alright.", Quirrel took a deep breath and then said: "They ask if you are fighting because of them and they, uh, seem to be rather upset about it..."

As soon as Quirrel's words were out, any noises died in the throne room and the Pale King looked at Hollow, seeing that they were shaking and that thick void tears were running down their face, their nail clutched tightly in their hands.

It was Isma who broke the silence, walked over to them, tapped with her foot and then hissed out: "You should all be ashamed!" She then bowed down to Hollow, whispered a few words to them and then led them out of the room, with Hollow looking back at the Pale King, fresh void tears appearing in their eyeholes.

"Um... I better look after them too...", Quirrel mumbled and practically rushed out of the throne room.

Dryya looked at the White Lady, who nodded to her. Dryya gave a bow and then went to join Isma, leaving only Ogrim, Hegemol and Ze'mer in the room.

"This hasn't been the end of that discussion.", Ogrim hissed and rushed out of the room. Hegemol cleared his throat and then said: "I better go after him, to calm him down."

As Hegemol had left the room, the White Lady said: "Well, that went less than optimal."

"Less than optimal?", the Pale King said and then raised his voice, which meant that it for once wasn't barely above a whisper. "Root, that was a disaster!"

The Pale King buried his face in his hands, murmuring to himself: "There is no way that I can atone for my sins..." before slumping down in his throne, only raising when he heard a voice.

"Um..", Ze'mer said, who still had been in the room and had seen his pathetic behaviour. He hadn't even noticed that she hadn't left.

"Your majesty, please allow che a question.", she said.

"...What is it, Ze'mer?", the Pale King said, straightening himself up on his throne.

"The true nature of the infection... What is it? You know more than you told, right? Please, che need to know..."

"Ze'mer, aren't you mad?", the White Lady asked after the Pale King failed to answer her right away.

"Whilst che does not approve of your actions, che can understand what has driven you.", Ze'mer said. "The infection is threatening those close to che, so che need to know how to help. Che can understand, because che also would do everything to protect che's loved ones. Ai."

The Pale King looked to his Root which simply nodded to him.

"Very well.", he said, his heart feeling light that at least one of his knights showed some understanding. "We will tell you what you desire to know, but first you have to tell us your side of the story."

(Author's note: I like the thought that Hollow adores super bad cheesy romance novel and yes, that is where they learned the word homewrecker, because that novels overuse the love triangle trope to hell.

The scene with White Lady was an important to add, because it seems to be believed that she was forced to partake into the plan, which isn't true. It turned out exactly like I wanted, so I am very satisfied with.

The scene with the five great knights was difficult to write and as you can see, they aren't too happy about what they hear, minus Ze'mer. Even though I have already hinted at her reasonings, I will get into more detail in the next chapter.

As always, I hope you enjoyed and I thank you so much for the comments and the fanart.)


	9. Chapter 9

Summary: The Pale King talks to Ze'mer about the infection. Hollow has a few things to say to the Pale King. The both of them visit the City of Tears again.

(Author's note: Arghl, I felt like I wanted to have this chapter earlier, but I am still busy with finishing up some WIPs for other fandoms, that are my top priority. Still, because I don't have to work right now, I managed to finish that chapter rather quickly. I hope you enjoy!)

"As you know, your highness.", Ze'mer started. "We knights have been send to different corners of the kingdom to help out with the infection. Che' hast met up with our allies, the Mantis."

"Please continue.", the Pale King said as Ze'mer was interrupting herself, she seemed to be at a loss of words. She slowly started to speak again.

"It should be to your knowledge that the three Mantis Lords also have a brother. Because of the matriarchic nature of the Mantis Tribe, he decided to start a family. His daughter... became a very very close friend to che'."

"I don't think that the Mantis Tribe approved of your relationship.", the White Lady said. "They tend to stay to themselves. That is why they are merely allies and not a part of the kingdom of Hallownest."

"Our lady speaks words of truth.", the Pale King said. "The Mantis Tribe is very proud. The only way to get their respect is defeating them in battle and even that doesn't mean that they would approve of close friendships with bugs from outside their clan."

"Sadly, it is true.", Ze'mer said. "The Mantis Tribe isn't approving of the close bond che' shares with her, but that is an issue for another time. The important thing is..." Ze'mer took a deep breath. "The father of che' friend shows early signs of the infection. He talks about things he has seen in his dreams, about power that he never could have if he stayed with the tribe and it sounds like he wants to embrace the infection willingly. Che's... afraid. What if he would hurt meled'l... meled'precious friend? Che' couldst not bare anything happening to hear. Che' wouldst do anything to protect her!"

The Pale King glanced to the White Lady and they shared a moment of wordless understanding. Ze'mer had corrected herself in the last moment, but she wanted to say "meled'love", which was the same as "my love" in her dialect. If her relationship with the mantis girl was on the romantic side, the Mantis Tribe surely would approve even less of it.

"That's why... why che' can understand your actions, your majesty.", Ze'mer said. "Che' can't say that che' approves of them, but knowing what che' wouldst do to protect those dear to che', che' don't feel like che' can judge. Che' might have acted the same in your position."

The Pale King stood up from his throne and walked a few steps towards Ze'mer, his hands folded behind his back. "Ze'mer, we thank you for telling us the truth.", he said. "In return, you deserve to know the truth about the infection." He took a deep breath and glanced to his Root who just gave him a nod.

"The truth is, the infection comes from another Higher Being.", he said. Ze'mer antennas twitched in surprise, but she put her composure back on quickly. "When we came to Hallownest as a young wyrm, we were unaware that it already had been claimed by another Higher Being.", the Pale King continued. "We tried to negotiate with them, but they didn't want to listen. Their method of ruling had been to enthrall ever single bug into their hive mind while our method of ruling was to give bugs their own mind and let them decide for themselves."

The Pale King slowly walked over to a window and looked outside at the courtxyard. Some Royal Retainers were scurrying around and some Kingsmoulds were patrolling.

"We were unable to win a fight of strength against them, so we took the fight into who was able to gain more followers. We won that fight, but unknown to even ourselves, even their most loyal followers turned away from them, stripping them of their power as a Higher Being."

The Pale King sighed as he continued: "We thought that they had left. That they wouldn't be able to get their power back, but they found a way to break out. They try to use their light to force their hive mind again, however it is lacking any control. This is what we call the infection."

The Pale King turned around and faced Ze'mer, who had quietly listened so far, knowing that she shouldn't speak when her king was talking. "That is where Hollow came into place. A vessel born of god and void, its only purpose to seal the infection." He noticed that he started shivering. "We now know, how wrong we have been..."

As Ze'mer still didn't said anything, the Pale King sat back down on his throne and said: "You may speak now, Ze'mer of the five great knights."

"So, in other words, the other Higher Being is a sore loser.", Ze'mer said and the Pale King noticed how his Root was chuckling next to him.

"That isn't funny, Root.", he said.

"Oh, I am sorry, Wyrm, the mental image was just too delightful.", she said.

"Can che' do anything to help?", Ze'mer asked. "Che' wouldst like to help to stop the source of the infection."

"I am afraid that you can't do much.", the Pale King said. Even he himself had barely an idea how to handle the Radiance outside of the vessel plan. "Of course you can feel free to research on your own."

"Their followers... the most loyal ones who have turned away, who hast they been?", Ze'mer asked.

"The moth clan...", the Pale King said. "We are pretty sure that there aren't any moths alive anymore however."

"Thank you, your majesty.", Ze'mer said. "Che' wouldst like to go and talk to the other great knights. They just need to get over their first shock. Che' will help them understand. "

"You are dismissed.", the Pale King said and Ze'mer deeply bowed to him and his Root and then left.

"What do you plan on doing now, Wyrm?", the White Lady asked.

"Going into my workshop.", the Pale King said. "I don't have the feeling that anyone wants to see me right now."

"You don't want to check on Hollow?", his Root asked.

"They are probably the least person who want to see me right now.", he sighed and stood up from his throne, slowly walking to the door and making his way to the workshop.

Once he was there, he tried to concentrate on the spells he experimented with to seal the infection, but he couldn't concentrate. Hollow's tearful face and them asking if they had been the reason for the fight was still in his mind, as well as how angry Ogrim had been with him. However, the worst thing was, he had let his child down. He didn't want to make them cry ever again and it happened over and over and over.

A knock on his door interrupted him. "No disturbance.", he said, annoying that someone event ried to get in. He had told the Royal Retainers to not get him, no matter what. He expected that whoever wanted his attention would just go away, but instead the door opened. The Pale King turned around, ready to put whoever ignored his orders back into place, but any words died in his throat when it was Hollow who carefully came teetering into his workshop. They didn't stop until they were at the board and then wrote four single words.

"I don't hate you."

"...Why?", the Pale King asked. The question was out before he could even think about. For all he had done, for all he still was doing to them, they should loathe him. He couldn't understand. Why did they love him? He wasn't deserving of their love.

The sound of chalk squeaking at the board got his attention and he laid his eyes on words that he hadn't expected and somehow expected at the same time: "I wanted to be the Pure Vessel."

"Hollow, please...", the Pale King sighed. "We have been over this. It was me who forced you into that role, you didn't even had a single say in it. This whole plan has turned into the biggest regret of my life."

More squeaking. The Pale King looked anxiously at the board as the words appeared: "No. It's not like that. I wanted to be the Pure Vessel. To protect. You and mother. The five great knights. The royal retainers. The kingdom you never visited, but always spoke fondly about. I knew that I had the power to make everything right. So it pains me. That I can't fulfil the role I had devoted myself to. I have disappointed everybody already, so I don't want to make others upset over me anymore..."

"Hollow, is that true?", the Pale King asked, even though he knew they barely were capable of lying to him. He would have noticed. What they had written on this board was hundred percent the truth. They still felt the need to give him a nod, not aware that his question had been a rhetorical one.

"Since when have you felt this way?", the Pale King asked. "Since when did you realize that you weren't empty?"

Hollow looked at him for a good while and then laid the chalk down in favour of signing: "Since the Path of Pain." They fidgeted with their hands a bit and then signed: "No, earlier even."

"How could I have been so blind to overlook?", the Pale King said, sitting down in a chair. "You have been very convincing in making me believe that you were void of thoughts and emotions, Hollow."

"It was hard.", Hollow signed. "Every day was a struggle."

"And that is why I can hardly believe that you don't hate me.", the Pale King said. "Hollow, I am so sorry about what happened today with the great five knights. I didn't want to make you cry. I shouldn't have taken you in there with me."

"I am not mad.", Hollow signed. "Isma and Quirrel stayed with me until I calmed down. Dryya too."

The five great knights... the Pale King had to deal with them sooner or later. With the four of them that hadn't been very understanding. Ze'mer had went to talk to them, but when he thought about Ogrim's reaction... he had the feeling he should maybe keep his distance until a rational conversation was possible.

"What are you planning to do now, Hollow?", the Pale King asked. It was more to distract himself, because he had barely been able to do anything, his "confession" and the bad reaction to it still to prevalent in his mind.

"Father.", they signed. "Can we go see the rain?"

"The rain...?", the Pale King was a bit confused, they didn't had anything like weather down here, but then it hit him. "Oh, you want to visit the City of Tears."

Hollow shyly nodded, as if they had asked something far more embarrassing than just going out. The Pale King considered their proposal. They surely both could use some distraction and in the city there wasn't a lot of danger to run into any of the knights. Besides, it was a good opportunity to fix Hollow's robe.

"Alright, let's go.", he said and got up. "You need to get a new robe anyway."

Gladly on the way out of the palace, the two of them didn't cross paths with any of the five great knights. The Pale King informed one of his royal retainers about his absence and that he wanted his wife to be informed, only to learn that she had went into her garden with Dryya. Apparently they would have liked to tell him earlier, but his orders had been clear, to not disturb him under any circumstances. The Pale King hoped that his Root managed to talk with Dryya about the conference in the morning. Dryya was as loyal to his Root as Hollow was to him, so he had the feeling, that his Root would be able to make her understand. Dryya always had been one of the more level headed knights.

The trip to the City of Tears was equally uneventful. Hollow was able to walk better, but climbing up the vertical shaft was still difficult for them, so the Pale King helped them out several times, especially when they tried to start teleporting up, until they managed to reach the city. As Hollow had said, they wanted to see the rain and so the Pale King was standing next to them as they marvelled over the sight. He had the feeling they would never get tired of it and he would never get tired of seeing how much joy his child got out of something so simple.

The Pale King noticed that every bug that crossed them, bowed down and actually didn't move any further. This went so far until a small crowd had gathered and he sighed and gave them the permission to move on. They probably were wondering. It was the second time in only a few weeks, that the Pale King visited the city, when he would normally stay in the palace for months. Also, Hollow was with him again. They would start to wonder just who they were, just like the knights. Though, thinking about the negative reaction of his knights, he was hesitating introducing Hollow as his heir to the public. Even though they didn't knew about the vessel plan, only that he had some plan to combat the infection, it felt awkward and some of the scholars would probably question why the Pale King would keep his child a secret for so long and not having introduced them right after hatching.

After the Pale King had to break up a crowd around him and Hollow for the third time, he nudged at them and said: "Hollow, let's move on. It's time for you to get your robes fixed."

Hollow nodded and stared longingly at the rain for one last second. There were places in the city that weren't covered. Maybe the Pale King should bring them to one later, so that they could feel the rain. They were so utterly fascinated by it, it was adorable. Of course the rain wouldn't be there always, the menderbugs would fix the roof again and again, but it would break again and again. If one day they would put down their work, the rain in the City of Tears would never stop.

Asides from the bugs that bowed, but moved one once he passed them, thanks for his thrall not being able to influence them when he moved out of their way, the way to the tailor was rather uneventful. Once the Pale King and Hollow stepped in, the tailor turned around with a smile, saying: "Welco... oh, your majesty." She then, like everyone else, bowed deeply.

"Please rise.", the Pale King said. "We require your services."

The tailor obeyed and once her eyes fell on Hollow, she said: "Oh, I see what he problem is. The robe has been busted. I will fix it up right away."

"Please prepare a second robe too.", the Pale King said. "Hollow, take off your robes and hand it to her."

Hollow slipped out of the robe, wrapping their wings around them for modesty and handed it to the tailor, who took it and bowed again, then her eyes seemed to glisten as he saw just with what the robe had been fixed. "Weaver's silk?! That is a material that you never see around this parts!"

"The robe has been destroyed in Deepnest.", the Pale King said, not providing any more context.

"Your majesty, would you allow me to keep this silk?", the tailor asked. "I won't charge anything, the silk is easily worth my services. More even."

"Feel free to keep the silk.", the Pale King said. "We don't have any use for it."

"Thank you, your majesty.", the tailor said and she looked so happy. "This will take a while, so please take a seat." She pointed at a table where tea and snacks were prepared. The Pale King walked over to it, hearing that Hollow followed him, but once he sat down, he noticed that they had stopped midway and stared at something on a mannequin. It was a dress.

"Hollow... are you interested in trying on that dress?", the Pale King asked. Hollow cocked their head and looked at him, then back at the dress. Then they nodded.

"Every dress on display is for sale.", the tailor said. "Feel free to try them all on, dear." That had been directed to Hollow.

"Well then.", the Pale King said. "Let's see how you look in this dress."

"Oh, just one moment.", the tailor said. "Let me get my sister to assist you while I am busy working." She shuffled in the backroom and not much later a bug appeared that looked almost identically to her, save for another outfit and shorter antennas, which fell into the usual bow once she spotted the Pale King.

"Rise.", the Pale King said, feeling tired. As much as he wanted to escape the palace, that he never could walk through the city without everyone bowing to him got on his nerves.

"Our ch.. companion would like to try on this dress.", that had been close, he almost had said child. "Could you please help them out? They never have worn a dress before."

"Of course, of course.", the tailor's sister said and eyed Hollow. "My, aren't you a dashing one, with that size at your age and those horns. Can you even walk straight?"

Hollow actually shook their head at his question, making the tailor's sister chuckle. "Oh, don't worry, we will take care that you won't fall over. Let me get that dress for you."

The dress turned out to be elegantly tailored and was from a deep black colour, being from a mid length, not going over Hollow's knees. However, the problem was, that it pretty much melted into the natural colour of their body.

"This won't do.", the tailor's sister said, "It looks like it is invisible. I have never seen a bug with such pure black as a colour. It seems like even light gets devoured by it."

Oh, how close she was to the truth, the Pale King thought to himself. Their body was void after all.

"Try a dress with more vibrant colours.", the Pale King encouraged Hollow and the tailor's sister gasped as she scurried away and came away shortly, having several dresses draped over her arm.

"All of these must look marvellous on you.", she said and presented one dress after the other to Hollow. Soon, they had tried on several ones, all with different colours and cuts. In the span of several minutes, Hollow had been put into a frilly white dress, in a puffy yellow one, in a blue one that could only be described as a gown and then in a loosely cut pink one. The tailor's sister was currently brooding over it while Hollow was busy looking at themselves in the mirror, the way they moved implied that they were happy with how they looked.

"It fits well, but something is missing...", the tailor's sister said and then shot up. "Oh, I know!", she ran into a corner of the shop and rummaged through a cupboard, coming back with two ribbons which she bound around Hollow's horns. "There.", she said. "That is perfect."

Hollow twirled around and looked at the Pale King, the way they cocked their head and wrung their fingers implying that they wanted to know his opinion.

"You look stunning, Hollow.", he said. "Just wait till your mother sees you like that."

It had been out before he had thought about that they weren't alone, because as soon as the words were out, he heard a big gasp and the tailor's sister just stared at the both of them with an open mouth. "They are your child, your majesty?!", she asked, her voice was half disbelief and half excitement.

"N.. no, that was not what we wanted to, uh, say.", the Pale King stammered, just how should he get out of this. "They... they are a candidate for the position of knight and they have stayed in the palace with their mother..."

"They are still a child. I doubt a child would be permitted to be a knight.", the tailor's sister said. Oh, if only she knew what the Pale King had expected from Hollow from a far younger age. She looked at him with an expression that seemed to scream at him, wanting to know just why he kept his own child secret.

"Don't tell anybody about it.", he said. "Not even your sister. There is a good reason for why we kept their existence hidden, that is all we can say about that matter."

"I won't say anything. I mean, it is not like I have a choice.", the tailor's sister said. "You surely have more than enough methods to keep me silent. I won't question it any further, just allow me to say one thing, your majesty. The population of Hallownest surely would welcome to know that an heir to its king has been born."

She then proceeded to clean up all the dresses and put them back on the mannequins, chirping to herself. Hollow came back to the Pale King and sat down. He pushed a cup of tea in their direction and they took a few sips, then put it back down and signed: "Why keep me a secret?"

The Pale King signed back, not wanting that the tailor's sister listened into their conversation. "You know why."

"Because I am... was... the Vessel.", Hollow signed back, looking down at the table. Then, they raised her head again and signed another thing: "Father, I can really keep the dress?"

"Yes, you deserve it.", the Pale King signed back. "After all I put you through, you surely deserve it."

The tailor's sister finished cleaning up the dresses and was in the process of sweeping the room, the Pale King had the feeling she was glancing at Hollow now and then, when the tailor entered the room again, two robes over her arms. As she saw Hollow, she chirped in delight.

"Oh, look at you, isn't that adorable? And those ribbons in your horns, they set just the right accent to the outfit." She laid both robes on the table and the Pale King couldn't even tell which one was the fixed and which one the new one, they looked identical. "Like I said, I won't charge anything, the weaver's silk is more than enough payment."

"Thank you very much.", the Pale King said. "What do we owe you for the dress?"

"Nothing. The weaver's silk is more than enough for it too. Just take it with you. Actually...", she eyed Hollow. "I think I have some ideas for an even better dress. That should be enough to reach the silk's worth. If you allow me, your majesty, I would like to sew it."

"What do you say, Hollow?", the Pale King asked, but from the excitement in their signing he knew that they were delighted. "We will allow it.", the Pale King said. "Send a messenger once it is done."

"Surely.", the tailor said. "It has been a pleasure working with you and your child, your majesty." The Pale King felt like his heart would stop and he heard himself say: "What have you just said?!"

"That it was a pleasure working with you and the child.", the tailor repeated. Ah, he had misheard her and here he thought, it had become obvious that Hollow was his child.

As they left the shop, Hollow bowed and then waved, stepping out on light feet. They seemed happy. "Hollow, before we head back, there is a place I want to show you.", he said. Hollow cocked their head and then followed him, without questioning of course. Soon they had arrived at a huge empty square, where the rain poured down unhindered. The square kind of always had bothered the Pale King, it felt like something should be there, like a statue or a fountain, but he hadn't found the right idea just what to put there. Yet.

Hollow looked at him, seemingly unsure what to do. "It's the rain, Hollow.", the Pale King said. "I wanted to give you the possibility to feel it."

Hollow turned their head around and stared at the rain for must have been a full minute, before they took a slow shaky step from under the roof and extended their hands. As soon as the rain touched it, they retreated. "Wet.", they signed. "Like water."

"That is what the rain is.", the Pale King said. "It's water, pouring down from above."

Hollow looked at the rain again and the next time they moved, it wasn't only their hands, but their whole body moved into the rain. They extended their arms and looked up and if they would have been able to emote, the Pale King was sure that they would smile. They simply stood in the rain, it ran down their shell and their void body and the Pale King thought that they felt at ease.

After a few minutes he called them back however, not that they would get sick. Could they even get sick? Better not take any chances. Unfortunately during their time in the rain, their new dress also had got soaked, the Pale King should have let them take it off first, so he spend a good while drying it and them with his magic. Once they were done, Hollow suddenly hugged him.

"Hollow.. not in such a public place.", the Pale King said and carefully removed them. Gladly, because of the pouring rain, not many bugs were present, but he still hoped that nobody had seen it. The two of them probably already were the case of rumours. It wouldn't take long for the population to pick up on what the great knights already had.

"Let's go back.", the Pale King said and Hollow nodded so hard that they fell over. "Ah well, was the first time today.", the Pale King said, helping them up and dusting off their dress. He then decided to subtlety take their hand, the more excited they were, the worse their balance problems.

On their way back, Hollow stared at the same sweet stand they had passed the last time and it wasn't exactly subtlety, so the Pale King went to get them some sweets, everyone in the line leaving him through again. When he returned to Hollow, he noticed that their attention had shifted to a small crowd. The crowd happened to have gathered around a butterfly girl who was singing a song.

"Do you want to listen, Hollow?", the Pale King asked and handed them the sweets. It was a snack coated in honey and the Pale King already planned to get more honey from the hive, Hollow seemed to enjoy it.

At his question, Hollow nodded and the Pale King stood next to them as they watched the singer, slowly nibbling at their sweets. The butterfly girl had a beautiful voice and the Pale King considered if he should summon her into the Palace to sing there, it surely would lift the mood of the great knights and the royal retainers. After a good while of them watching, Hollow nudged the Pale King and once they got his attention, they signed: "What is she doing?"

"She is singing.", the Pale King replied, heart sinking into his chest, about that he never bothered to teach Hollow about the joys of life such as music. They never would have needed to know what it is, they never would have been able to enjoy it, being a creature void of emotions. That is why he only ever had them taught how to fight and to be the Vessel. The Pale King had the feeling he needed to explain it more closely. "Singing is when someone uses their voice to form a melody.", he said. "They sing along lyrics and wrap their voice around it to make it sound more enjoyable as if someone would just be talking. It is called music and singing is a form of it."

"I see.", Hollow signed and then didn't say anything anymore. In fact, they nudged the Pale King again and implied that they wanted to go now. The Pale King didn't had any troubles with their desire, he just was a bit confused. It seemed like they had enjoyed listening to the singing of the butterfly, he didn't knew what suddenly had changed.

On their way back, Hollow seemed to fall behind and it wasn't because of balance, when the Pale King looked back, they seemed to have their gaze on the ground, but didn't struggle a lot and when, they managed to catch themselves. However, they dragged their feet and the Pale King could practically feel a gloomy aura around them.

"What's wrong, Hollow?", he asked.

They stopped and raised both hands, thinking a bit and then signed: "I can never do that."

"What can you never do?", the Pale King asked, confused. He knew that he would give them the chance to do anything they wanted, as long as if they didn't want to be the Vessel again.

" G.", Hollow signed out every letter of the word, clearly not knowing the sign language for it yet.

The Pale King stared at Hollow for a while. So far, they never had complained about not having a voice. So far, the Pale King had been under the impression that their missing voice didn't bother them. They had learned how to articulate themselves with a different method, so why should they be upset about it, when everyone could understand what they wanted to say? That the simple act of not being able to sing bothered them so much, surprised the Pale King as well as let a pang in his chest appear, because he was the reason for them to not have a voice. It was even worse when he saw tears welling up at their eyeholes again and right when he had sworn to him to not make them cry anymore.

"Oh, Hollow, please don't cry.", the Pale King crossed the short distance between them and hugged his child. "Singing is just one form of music. You may not be able to do it, but there exist many instruments that can be played with your hands. Would you maybe like to try it out?"

The Pale King slowly released Hollow from his hugs, holding them at their shoulders still and looked into their eyeholes. Slowly, very slowly, Hollow nodded. They raised their hand and wiped the tears away, then signed: "I want to try."

"I am sure we will find an instrument that will suit you.", the Pale King said and took their hand again. "There are many different kinds, like the piano, the violin or the harp..." On their way back, the Pale King taught Hollow all about what he knew about instruments, but had to admit that he didn't knew too much. He always had been the logical type, not the creative type. Did he know someone that played an instrument? Lurien probably. When he remembered correctly, the watcher would sometimes play the violin. It wouldn't hurt to bring Hollow there, he had the feeling the once dreamers should meet them anyway.

Hollow listened intently to everything he had to said. Apparently, the concept of music and instruments seemed to fascinate them. It was a good sign for the Pale King, anything that would help them getting their mind of being the Vessel, would be a good thing.

Back at the palace, the Pale King saw Isma and Hegemol standing and his heart sank again. He had hoped to avoid this conversation, even though he knew it had to happen.

"Look at you, Hollow, you are adorable.", Isma said as she spotted them in their new dress. "I am glad that you feel better now."

"The ribbons are perfect.", Hegemol added. "They make your horns look even more stunning."

Hollow bowed to the both of them in thanks and then Isma turned to the Pale King. "You know why we are here, but we refuse talking about it in front of Hollow."

"Hollow, go inside.", the Pale King said. "See if your mother is back."

Hollow nodded and then went away. As soon as they were out of sight, Isma sighed and said: "Ze'mer talked to us."

"She was saying that much this morning.", the Pale King said, waiting for what Isma had to say further.

"Your majesty, you have to know, that we don't condone your actions regarding Hollow. They have been wrong and I barely can grasp that you have been willing to sacrifice your own child."

Hegemol nodded along to Isma's words as the Pale King's heart sunk even further down. He agreed with them. There was nothing he could do to defend himself, because every word they said was true.

"However, Ze'mer made us see your decision in a new light.", Isma said. "First, you did it because you tried to save thousands of innocent bugs from the infection."

"Second.", Hegemol said. "You were under the impression that Hollow was void of emotion, nothing but a construct."

"That is correct...", the Pale King said. "We have been wrong about Hollow being void of emotion. They have tried so hard to appear as if they really were, that they even deceived us. We deeply regret that we haven't picked up on it sooner."

"Which brings us to our next point.", Isma said. "We don't condone your actions, but we can understand what has you driven to them. The most important part is, that you stopped. That you strife to do better. The hurt inflicted on Hollow can never be reversed, but they truly love you and view you as their father. Your majesty, I don't speak as your knight when I say this, but as a potential mother, never ever hurt Hollow like this again." She looked at Hegemol. "Hegemol has the same opinion as me."

Hegemol added and said: "We have told Hollow that they can come to us whenever it would become too much for them. Like Isma said, we can't condone your actions, but we can understand why you felt the need to act them out. We... will need some time to come to terms with everything, but we would like to stay in your service and help as best as we can to combat the infection."

The Pale King almost felt himself tear up, a thing that couldn't happen in front of his knights. Isma, Hegemol, your words mean a lot to us.", he said. "Thank you." In the back of his head, the thought of what would happen when the knights knew just how many dead children he had in the abyss lingered, but he didn't want to think about this right now. A lot of the children would have been born dead even outside the influence of the void. The mortality rate of them was too high.

"What about Ogrim?", the Pale King asked, having the impression that the White Defender would personally kill him if he knew about the abyss.

"...He didn't want to listen.", Isma said. "I will try and talk to him, but I am under the impression he needs more time. He can't understand your actions at all and was rather disgusted by them."

"He's not the only one.", the Pale King whispered, with a voice as quiet as him, there was no way that his knights would be able to hear him. He was disgusted by himself, by the fact that he had sacrificed so many of his own children and expected the only living one to become a living prison for the Radiance. It was time to end the infection, once and for all.

"We will leave Ogrim time.", he said. "For now, return to your posts. We need to get back to our workshop."

"Very well.", Isma and Hegemol said in unsion, bowed to him and then went off. With a heart as heavy as stone, the Pale King walked into the direction of his workshop. The conversation with Ogrim, if it would ever happen, would be a tough one. For now, he finally needed to tackle the infection.

Especially before Hollow would one day decide to be the Vessel without him having a say in it.

(Author's note: I did my best with Ze'mer's dialect. Give me a break, Hollow Knight, english isn't even my first language and then you let Ze'mer speak like that?!

I have the feeling, this chapter feels a bit like filler. I want to get the plot going finally and hope I can start with it in the next chapter. I have a lot of things planned still.

Anyway, please write me your opinions in the comments. Thank you very much.)


	10. Chapter 10

Summary: The Pale King is searching for another way to fight the infection. He learns something new about Hollow which he could had pass up on, as well as is having a few conversations, even those who are going to hurt.)

(Author's note: I am sorry for the wait! I was very busy with finishing up a writing challenge and so that story fell on the back burner. I also had trouble getting this chapter in a way so that I could get to the planned plot, but I now managed and it is taking shape.

Light emetophobia warning for this one, nothing is described in great detail though.)

Once the Pale King was in his workshop he got hit by the same feeling of despair he now was so familiar with since the infection started, since he had found out that it was the doing of his old nemesis.

He still wasn't a single step closer to how to tackle it. Maybe he should try and use his foresight to see a path he could take? However, it was his foresight who had convinced him of the vessel plan and he knew that this plan had been doomed to fail. Of course it was because he had made a mistake on the way. His foresight could only show the Pale King a general path and he had seen a path where everything had worked out. A path in which Hollow truly would have been the Pure Vessel and in which they would have succeeded to stave off the infection for Hallownest to prosper.

Now that the Pale King had accepted Hollow as his child, the thought of this scenario made him shudder. It could very well be that his foresight would show him a plan that would fail as much as the vessel plan. To ensure that the plan would work, he would have to use his foresight again and again, which would be a dangerous thing to do, because it could happen for him that he lost his sense of time when he would peek into the future every few hours.

Also, the Pale King didn't want to relay on his foresight. He went to his board and saw the words that Hollow had written on them.

_I wanted to be the Pure Vessel._

With an uneasy feeling in his guts, the Pale King took a sponge and erased the words on the board, not being able to shake the feeling off that he basically was erasing the words of his child...

It was time to get to work.

After the Pale King requested a can of coffee from one of the Royal Retainers (he surely wouldn't sleep tonight, after having so many cups in the morning already), he went back to his desk and pondered.

The best solution would be to defeat the Radiance. If she couldn't be forgotten, they had to make sure that she wouldn't be able to leak the infection out anymore. If she couldn't get sealed, because the vessel that was needed for it was impure, then it would be the best to put the Radiance in her place.

The problem was... how should he do that?

The Radiance had already proven that she was stronger than him, the scar on his chest was all he needed as a reminder for that. Even if the Radiance might have been weakened from being forgotten, in the dream realm she surely was holding still a lot of power. Drawing her out of the dream realm wasn't possible, the only thing that could have been done was forcing her into a host and that plan was history. It also wouldn't be possible to force her into a host and then kill said host, because that would just free the Radiance back into the dream realm. Not to speak about that the Pale King didn't plan on sacrificing anyone anymore... his children had suffered enough for that unbaked plan.

He should find a solution to weaken the Radiance somehow. His gaze fell on a box filled with void that he normally used to form the wingsmould and kingsmould or patch up Hollow's injury, but for now he should maybe try a different approach.

Him and the Radiance also, they feared the void. They were beings of lights and the void could completely swallow their light. Hollow's body, that completely absorbed his natural glow, was proof.

If he could find a way to use the Void against the Radiance... that could be exactly what they needed.

The Pale King didn't even notice when a Royal Retainer entered and placed the requested can of coffee next to him along with a cup, he only noticed once he was at his third cup, wondering when the Royal Retainer had entered, but shrugging it off. He had some experiments to run.

Several hours must have passed, because the Pale King was sure that he had too much coffee and was entirely running on caffeine. His whole body was jittery, his wings were twitching now and then and he had to forcefully keep his tail down to not knock down everything that happened to be behind him. In his attempts to create a spell that would use the void as a catalyst to be able to weaken the Radiance, he must have completely forgotten the time. He wondered if it already was morning. Neither his Root nor Hollow had checked up on him. Or maybe they had and he hadn't noticed them at all.

He stretched and decided to call it a day. If it wasn't morning yet he would go sit on the balcony and observe the palace grounds, there was no way he could sleep with all the coffee in his body and if it was morning already, he would find his Root and Hollow for breakfast. However, before he should do any of that, he should take a quick detour to the castle bathroom to freshen himself up.

He turned around to leave his workshop to be faced with a mess. All the items his tail had knocked down... he had his standards, he needed to clean his workspace first. Of course he could let the Royal Retainers handle it, but the Pale King had a clear rule that nobody was allowed to touch anything in his workshop.

As he was busy picking up the knocked down items, he heard a knock, shy and quiet. He knew that knock by now.

"Come in, Hollow.", he said.

The door opened as quiet and shy as the knock had been and Hollow slipped in, not wearing their dress anymore, but their robes.

"Is it morning already?", the Pale King asked, placing a stack of books on each other.

Hollow nodded and then signed: "Have you slept, father?"

"It appears that I have not.", the Pale King sighed. "I was planning to clean up here and then take a quick bath before breakfast. Do you want to join me?"

Hollow cocked their head, the Pale King now knew that it meant that they were considering, and then nodded.

"Very well. Then please take a seat and wait until I am done tidying up."

Hollow nodded again and walked over to the chair, sitting down. After the Pale King checked that they didn't sit as stiff as possible, he went back to tidying up. After a few minutes, he heard the sudden noise of teleporting and spotted even more knocked down items, which his tail wasn't responsible for this time.

"What in Hallownest...?", he murmured, searching for the cause of the ruckus.

When he looked at his desk, he saw two things.

First, Hollow's robe was left carelessly on the chair.

Second, the last cup of coffee, which still had a tiny rest in it, had been knocked over and there wasn't a drip of coffee in it anymore.

It didn't take the Pale King long to put two and two together.

Hollow had tasted his coffee when he had been distracted and they clearly didn't take well to the caffeine, having gone in some kind of frenzy, at least their frantic teleporting indicated that. They didn't even seem to knew where they teleported, they just appeared, knocked stuff over and then vanished again.

"Oh, Hollow...", the Pale King murmured. "And that is why I forbid you to drank from my coffee."

While the Pale King would have preferred for Hollow to get all this extra energy out in a more natural way, his workshop and Hollow themselves were in danger. They often knocked into furniture and that left tiny cracks in their shell and their horns kept knocking even more things down. They were too large. Paired with them still being a bit off balance, they often fell down and so worsened any injuries they already had suffered, but they would just stand up and keep teleporting or occasionally dashing, all in such a speed that it was almost nauseating to watch.

The Pale King murmured a spell and chains of soul appeared and restricted Hollow from moving once they appeared from their latest teleport, leaving them hanging in the middle of the room. He felt awful having to use this spell on Hollow, regarding their supposed fate, but he saw no other way to stop their frantic movements. He actually was glad that he had managed to trap them first try.

Hollow, chained up, trashed against the restraints. They clearly wanted out. The Pale King even noticed how they tried to focus their soul, but his binding spell restricted anyone's ability to focus soul, at least when their control over soul was weaker than his and he was the prime sorcerer in the kingdom. Of course, he had invented almost all spells himself.

"Please stay calm, Hollow.", the Pale King said, as he flew up to them, touching their wings. It would calm him down when his Root did this for him, maybe it would work for Hollow too.

At least they stopped trashing once he touched them, turning their head to look at them, but their body was a jittering mess.

"We clearly need to get that caffeine out of you...", the Pale King said. "Please promise that you won't try and teleport or dash away, then I will let you down and we go into the bathroom together."

Hollow, still jittering, seemed to take a deep breath. Then they nodded.

"Good.", the Pale King said and dismissed the spell. Having lost the support of the chains, Hollow fell down, but managed to put their hands out and caught themselves on their knees before their head could contact with the floor. It seemed like their balance got better and that even though they were had been a bit up in the air. The still were jittering and it looked like they had to try their hardest to not dash off again.

"Are you ready, Hollow?", the Pale King asked. "Can you follow me without the danger of teleporting away?"

It seemed like Hollow wanted to nod but then they put both their hands on their chest. They were shaking, not just jittering like earlier, but their whole body trembled and then the Pale King had to witness the horror that was a vessel vomiting.

Not bothering about cleaning up anymore, the Pale King was at Hollow's side once they finished, still not looking too hot. "If you could hold it in until we are at the bathroom that would be very appreciated.", he murmured when he picked them up and pretty much flew to the nearest place that housed a toilet.

A good time must have been passed in which the Pale King had stroked over Hollow's back as they were busy regurgitating everything they had eaten lately. That certainly was one way to get the caffeine out, although far more uncomfortable. Needless to say, that the sight of a vessel vomiting had burned itself into his mind and he wondered if he would ever be able to forget how it looked like.

At least Hollow hadn't thrown up for the last five minutes, their breathing was heavy and they had laid their head on the Pale King's lap who was stroking their horns, hoping that they wouldn't suddenly puke on his robes.

"My Wyrm?", the voice of the White Lady sounded. "Are you in here?"

"In here, Root.", he called. "Come in."

The White Lady rounded the corner and her eyes widened when she saw the picture in front of her. "What happened?", she asked. "And why do you look like you have seen someone's worst nightmare?"

"Hollow has gotten sick.", the Pale King replied, his child still shivering in his lap from the caffeine frenzy and the effort of throwing up. "They tried out the rest of my coffee when I wasn't looking. They managed to get it all out by now... by throwing up."

The White Lady's blue eyes locked at him and Hollow in sympathy. "That explains why your workshop looks like such a mess as well as why you look so distressed.", she said and sat down next to them. While the White Lady would eat food, her plant nature made sure that it would broken down into energy right away. She didn't had something like a digestive system and so she never knew how it felt like to throw up.

She only knew about it because the Pale King had described it to her and the discomfort that came with it, so she did her best to help him get through it, whenever he managed to get sick.

"How are you, Hollow?", the White Lady asked. Hollow raised their head for a brief second, but then laid it down again. They didn't seem up to sign.

"At least they haven't thrown up for around five or ten minutes now.", the Pale King said. "Be glad, Root. You don't want to know how this looks like."

He felt Hollow getting rigid in his embrace at his words. "My apologies, Hollow.", he said. "It wasn't my intention to hurt your feelings. Do you feel like you can go to your room and lie down?"

Hollow weakly nodded. "I will carry them.", the White Lady said. "Are you fine with this, Hollow?"

Another weak nod and the White Lady carefully cradled Hollow in their arms. The Pale King stood up and took one last glance at the toilet. The contents having gone down this drain was something not even Ogrim would want to use for his form of art and fighting. At the thought of Ogrim the Pale King felt a sting in his chest, he had briefly forgotten about the fight he had with the knight.

After him and his Root had brought Hollow to their room, provided them with a bucket just in case and waited for them to have fallen asleep, the both of them were going to get breakfast together. "I planned to take a bath before breakfast.", the Pale King said. "I guess that will happen after breakfast now."

"That is something you probably have to get used to once you have children.", his Root said. "Are you even feeling up to eating right now, my Wyrm? You, uh, still look like you want to purge a memory from your mind."

"I probably won't eat much.", the Pale King said. "Root, I don't even know how I should describe it. It was like if the Abyss was opening a maw and pouring void down on my floor."

"I can imagine...", the White Lady said. "Please don't try to explain it in more detail. I may not be able to vomit, but I still can feel disgust."

"I need to give Hollow a lecture later about drinking my coffee.", the Pale King said. "But I have the feeling they have been punished enough and to be honest, I am a bit proud."

"Proud because they made themselves sick?", his Root asked.

"No, I am proud because they did something without my consent. ...It may have turned out unfavourable for their situation, but they put themselves through a life lesson through their own free will. For Hollow, that feels like huge process."

"Oh, my Wyrm, you are right!", the White Lady clapped two of her branches together, making a rustling sound. "Oh, but my apologies for changing the subject, but I wanted to talk with you about the knights."

"Yes...?", the Pale King, heart sinking down in his chest. While Ze'mer, Isma and Hegemol had already talked with him, Dryya and Ogrim hadn't come to him yet. It was especially Ogrim the Pale King was worried about.

"I had a long talk with Dryya about the whole plan and Hollow's role in it.", the White Lady said. "I... omitted the part about the others...", the White Lady's gaze darkened as she said that, "..but other than that, I told her everything."

"How did she react?", the Pale King asked.

"She quietly listened to me.", the White Lady replied. "When I was finished, Dryya told me that she believed my doing was wrong, but that she could feel that I myself had already been troubled by the same thoughts. She told me that she wishes to stay my knight. She also told me that she would like to give Hollow some proper combat training, now that they are older, but it should be them deciding, not us."

"So she doesn't hold any resentment?"

"No, she told me that her being mad at me wouldn't change anything about the situation. She said, the important thing was, that we stopped what we were planning. As long as we respect our child, she won't interfere."

"Knowing Dryya, that could mean that the moment Hollow expresses that they are unhappy, that she turns her nail against us.", the Pale King murmured.

"I have known Dryya for a long time now.", the White Lady said. "I am sure, when she has trouble with us, she will come and talk first. Please don't worry too much, my Wyrm. I promise I will keep Dryya in check, should the need arise."

"Thank you, my Root.", the Pale King said and with that their conversation receded and the both of them walked next to each other in comfortable silence until they reached the room where they took in their breakfast. During breakfast the Pale King told his Root about his talk with Hegemol and Isma as well as about his attempts to try and create a spell to weaken the Radiance. As a Higher Being which spells were based on life and protection, he knew that his Root couldn't provide much assistance, but talking to her made him feel better and more at ease.

After breakfast, the Pale King went to the bathroom, intending to get himself clean and more presentable before he had to start his royal duties. On the way there, he crossed ways with Hegemol. That meant that at least he hadn't left the palace, but when their gazes met for a fraction of a second, the Pale King could see the disgust in Ogrim's expression and he lowered his head, claws put on his forehead when his foresight right now and there decided to show him a scenario where Ogrim would leave him behind. It wasn't the first time he felt that the gift of foresight was more akin to a curse.

After a second or two had passed, the Pale King blinked, rose his head again and went to the bathroom, contemplating his life choices as he sat in the pool filled with hot spring water. Shaking off any thoughts about the matter, he only left it once he felt clean and comfortable. Well, as comfortable as he could feel, the stinging feeling in his chest just wouldn't go away...

On the way to his office, to tackle the paperwork, he ran into Quirrel, who was carrying a stack of books. "Oh, your majesty, perfect timing.", Quirrel said. "I wanted to ask if we should pick up the sign language lessons again. There are still a lot of signs for Hollow to learn. It would also be good for them to come back into the morning classes."

The Pale King stopped and looked at Quirrel. It made perfect sense what he was proposing. Hollow hd liked the routine and probably needed it, but since Deepnest there just had too much stuff happened. "Very well, we will start the lessons again this evening.", he said.

"I will prepare everything then.", Quirrel said. "May I ask where Hollow is, your majesty? I haven't seen them all morning."

"...They got... sick...", the Pale King said and quickly elaborated when Quirrel narrowed his eyes at him, the pill bug had been present at the conference with the knight, after all. "They drank something that didn't sit well with their stomach and spent the morning hunched over in the bathroom. They rest now."

"Oh.", Quirrel said. "They probably don't want to be disturbed then, if they are still feeling unwell. Madam Monomon always would tease me when it happened to me."

That... felt like something Monomon would do, the Pale King thought to himself.

"But it was usually my own fault, eating some random food off the ground. She would always stay with me until it was over.", Quirrel told further, maybe in reaction of the way the Pale King had stared at him. "Anyway, tell Hollow that they can come to me for lessons anytime once they feel well enough. I hope you will have a fantastic day, your majesty.", Quirrel said and walked past the Pale King, who glance at the book stack. Most of them were textbooks but one in particular stood out to him. That was one of the cheesy romance novels he had found under Hollow's bed. The Pale King narrowed his eyes as he watched Quirrel vanish around a corner. It seemed like he had found the culprit who had introduced Hollow to this books in the first place.

Whatever, it wasn't like it would hurt them. At least they hadn't said that word right in front of Herrah. They had enough common sense to keep their words in check. At moments like this, the Pale King felt a tiny bit glad that they didn't had a voice, meaning that they never could speak out things without thinking. At the same time, he felt bad about feeling glad about this, after all, he had robbed them of a basic organ... it would have been different if they simply had been born mute, the excuse he normally would tell other bugs, but no, he had deliberately made sure that they didn't possess a voice.

He needed to shake these thoughts aside. He would never be able to restore their voice, they couldn't get back what they never possessed. For now, he should concentrate on his duties and on finding a way to stave off the infection and so, the Pale King started his duties for the day.

Later, when he was done with the paperwork for now and it was time for a lunch break, the Pale King went to Hollow's room. He knocked, but didn't get an answer of course. He knocked again and said: "Hollow, I am coming in." He then carefully opened the door, slid into the room and closed it behind him, seeing Hollow on their bed, staring at the ceiling, one hand pressed on their forehead as if they had a headache. The Pale King crossed the distance to their bed and sat down on the edge.

"How are you feeling?", he asked.

Hollow didn't remove their hand from their head, but signed out two letters with their other hand that simply said: "OW".

"Are you having a headache?", the Pale King asked and Hollow gave him a weak nod, so weak that he had to look very precisely at them to notice it.

"Well, Hollow, I know you feel bad and have gotten sick, but this only happened because you drank my coffee.", the Pale King said. Hollow flinched at his words and then faced the wall instead of the ceiling.

"I am not mad at you.", the Pale King said. "We should talk about this more later, for now you should rest."

Hollow slowly turned their head again to look at him this time and then removed their hand from their forehead to sign: "Sorry."

They surely used this word too often. Well, them getting defensive over everything, because they perceived themselves as a failure, it was another thing that wasn't a surprise and made the Pale King's heart feel heavy every time.

"You don't have to apologize...", he murmured and then changed the subject: "It's time for lunch and I wanted to ask you if you feel up for coming to eat something with me and your mother, but I assume you still need to rest.", the Pale King said, gaze wandering to the bucket he had left with them. At least there weren't any traces of void in it, but he kind of doubted that there still had been left anything in Hollow's body after what had transpired in the bathroom this morning.

Hollow slowly pulled themselves up and shook their head, then, their hands flew over their chest again and the Pale King already flicked the bucket up with his tail in anticipation, catching it with his claws, of what happened the last time, but Hollow took a few deep breathes and then laid back down.

"You should take in some water.", the Pale King said. "You must be dehydrated. That will help with the headache. Also...", the Pale King laid his claw on his child's forehead and shared some Soul with them. "Your soul reserves must be low too after all that teleporting during your frenzy. It would be good if you feel better this evening, because Quirrel would like for you to take up your sign languages lessons again."

After the Pale King had shared some soul with them, Hollow visibly relaxed. The soul also helped to heal all the tiny cracks in their shell they had gotten earlier. They nodded at his words and then continued to stare at the ceiling. The Pale King tucked them in before he left, because they clearly had kicked off their blankets and ordered one of the Royal Retainers to leave a carafe with water in Hollow's room.

After he had left Hollow to rest a bit more, the Pale King went to get some lunch with his Root, telling her about Hollow's condition. The White Lady told him that she would watch over Hollow in the afternoon, so that he could concentrate fully on his duties. After they were done eating, the Pale King considered what kind of duties he even had for the afternoon, recently the afternoons always had been reserved for Hollow's soul training. He could maybe go and clean up his workshop, but the thought of the void vomit in there made him reluctant to go in there for now. At least not shortly after he had eaten, or he would probably create a second, white puddle next to it.

So the Pale King decided to make his rounds through the Palace, it has been a while since he had checked on everything, this was mostly a task for his knights, but once in a while he wanted to see for himself. It was also a good opportunity to give the Royal Retainers new orders and judging the size of the palace, it would keep him busy for a while and his thoughts wouldn't be able to wander.

Shortly after he had made his decision, the Pale King started his rounds, checking on every room that he hadn't set foot in for a while, making sure to talk to the Royal Retainers and occasionally giving them different orders if their old ones didn't made sense anymore and sometimes stopping, reminiscing in some memories when he entered a particular place.

He also came along his knights which had their duties in the palace this day. Hegemol was cleaning and maintaining the nails along some sentries, a kingsmould standing next to them, clearly waiting for its weapon to be given back so that it could continue its orders, Dryya was guarding the door to Hollow's room which told him that his wife was in there right now watching over Hollow like she had said, Ze'mer was hurrying along the hallways with a stack of books and Isma was taking care of the plants in the Palace's little garden.

Only Ogrim was nowhere to be seen and the Pale King was glad about this, because he hadn't the feeling that the White Defender was keen at seeing him right now.

The last station on his rounds was the library and when the Pale King opened the door, he found Ze'mer and Quirrel inside, discussing over a stack of books in a language that he didn't know but sounded very much like the one that sneaked itself into Ze'mer's accent. He had the feel he shouldn't disturb them, so he closed the door and went back to his workshop.

He sighed as he thought about the mess inside the workshop and especially the puddle he still had to clean up. He knew he could just ask the Royal Retainers, but because of his strong distaste for anyone that wasn't himself to touch anything in that workshop, he braced himself and entered the workshop.

The mess he saw and the stench was overwhelming. He didn't think that void could smell that bad, but judging that it still was partially digested food, it was to be expected. He should have cleaned it up right away, now he was stuck with this mess. With another sigh, the Pale King got a bucket, that he filled with some hot spring water that he kept in his work shop, and a rag and started to scrub at the void puddle.

He was glad that nobody was seeing him like this, what a picture it would be to see the King of Hallownest clean up his child's mess. He guessed that this was normal for being a parent, most of the time they started with a hatchling and not a teenager and they were known to not always being able to keep their food down. He wondered how Herrah would react if she would see him like that and then his mind wondered if Herrah also would scrub up little Hornet's mess, when she couldn't keep her food down or decided that her diaper was too annoying that day. The thought of Herrah scrubbing away at their child's mess was incredibly amusing for some kind of reason and it made him feel a bit better about having to do it on his own.

Once he was done and the floor was clean again, he got up and tossed the rag into the bucket, that could be rinsed out later. The brought water was more black than shimmering white by now. It looked pretty disgusting.

Not wanting to pay any further attention to the vomit, in which form whatsoever, the Pale King seized the state of the workshop. It appeared that nothing seemed to be broken, at least not beyond repair, but there was a lot of cleaning up to do. He better got to work.

Just as the Pale King had picked up the first books, there was a knock on the door. Who could it be? "Come in.", he replied and through the door came Hollow, who crossed the distance to him in a few hurried steps, had their head hanging low and then signed.

"Father, I am SO sorry." The "so" had been signed in a particular sprawling way, so that the Pale King had the feeling they had wanted to shout it.

"Are you feeling better, Hollow?", the Pale King asked, not reacting to their apology at all at first. They looked up, then scraped the ground with their foot before nodding.

"Good.", the Pale King said and pointed to the chair. "Please sit down."

Hollow did as he said, but didn't look at him, their gaze was still directed at the ground. It looked like they were ashamed of themselves. The Pale King almost decided to not give them a lesson, that they beating themselves up over what happened would be more than enough, but he still was their father and should at least explain them why what they had done had been wrong.

"Hollow, do you now know why I didn't want for you to drink my coffee?", he asked instead, deciding to give them a chance to speak for themselves before berating them. He remembered a part of Monomon's letter where she talked about, then whenever a child had done something wrong, they should get the chance to admit to their mistakes first.

Hollow shyly looked up and then nodded, gaze going downwards to the ground again.

"Good.", the Pale King said. "Let me explain it in greater detail. You are still young as well as a hybrid and we don't know much about you react to certain substances. Besides, the coffee that I drink is... strong to say the last. Most bugs would only drink a tiny cup of it and still feel the effects. I have seen how you reacted and it wasn't pretty, neither for me nor for you."

Hollow raised their hands to sign another sorry, the signs felt weak and meekly, as if they didn't want to put much strength in their words.

"While I am certainly not glad that you messed up my workshop, it is more important to me that you feel well again, Hollow.", the Pale King said. "I hope you feel well enough to continue your sign language lessons, because Quirrel is already waiting for us."

Hollow looked up and then nodded, then looked down again. The Pale King took this as cue that their conversation was over and continued to clean up the workshop. After he had passed Hollow for the third time still sitting on the chair, he said: "Uh, Hollow... you can get up, you know."

"...Can I help you clean up?", they signed.

Oh... so they had stayed because they wished to help him, but they hadn't known how to express it, because they were aware that he didn't enjoy when others touched stuff in his workshop.

"Um, well...", the Pale King stammered a bit, not having expected for them to offer their help. "Yes, you can help.", the finally said and gave them a stack of books. "Can you put them back into the shelves? They are sorted alphabetically."

Hollow nodded and went to the shelves while the Pale King picked up a few instrument and checked if each or any of them was still functioning or if some of them broke. Every now and then he was glancing to Hollow, seeing that they were fully absorbed in their task. As the book stack next to them got smaller, the Pale King noticed that the shelf was too high for them to put away every book. He had wings and would usually just fly up there to get the books on top, but Hollow's wings were unable to lift them up in the air. Sure, they could jump, but it would barley leave them long enough in the air to put the books away and they also would be in danger to hurt themselves if they botched the landing.

Hollow apparently came to the same conclusion, because they were craning their neck up and falling over while doing it, of course, that horns on their head just pulled them down all the time. The Pale King was already on his way to help them, putting the instrument he had worked on, down on the table, but before he had reached them, they had stood up and put the book away by simply deforming their arm in some kind of tendril that could easily reach high up the shelf.

As their arm regained its usual form, the Pale King just stared at them. That tendril... that had looked exactly how he had envisioned the spell to hold and maybe weaken the Radiance to defeat her in the dream realm. He had apparently forgotten one very important detail about his child... their body was made of void.

However... he struggled with himself. He didn't want to pull Hollow in this again. Even if they weren't used as vessel anymore, letting them fight his ancient nemesis, that had been strong enough to nearly kill him, especially when they weren't up to their prime, that was too much. He couldn't let them fight the Radiance, that would have been the same as sentencing them to an far too early death (that had befallen their siblings already). At least, he wouldn't let them send in there alone.

Still, he didn't even knew how Hollow would react to the dream realm. Would a being of void be able to regain their consciousness in it? They were a Higher Being and a soul user, but their void body bothered him. He had the feeling he should at first see how Hollow would act in the dream realm and spar with them in it a bit. If they entered in a place that was far away from her usual worshipping places, then they would have enough time before she would sense them.

With this thoughts, the Pale King and Hollow finished up cleaning the workshop in silence and then went together to get their dinner along with the White Lady.

When the both of them entered the library later, Ze'mer was still there. Once she noticed them enter, she stood up and said: "Oh, your majesty. 'Che will leave right away. 'Che hopes that you and Hollow will have a wonderful evening."

As she crossed them to get out of the library, the Pale King got a look at her books and could see that a few of them were about the moth clan. It seemed like Ze'mer really was researching ways to fight the infection, in her own way.

The sign language lesson went over without trouble, with Hollow expressing a particular interest in how to sign various words that were related to music. The Pale King remembered that he had told them about expressing themselves with an instrument. He should maybe take them to a store in the future or meet up with Lurien who probably could tell Hollow more about music than he could.

Once the lesson was over, Quirrel scheduled their morning lessons with them, the Pale King brought them to bed and managed to get some sleep himself by slipping into the chambers of his Root again.

The next days fell into a kind of routine. He would spend the mornings with his royal duties, trained with Hollow in the afternoons (the soul spear attack they had used fighting the Nosk needed some polish), attend sign languages lessons with them and would work on spells in his workshop until it was time to go to bed or he would just stay awake.

When he wandered the palace, he would often encounter the knights, Ze'mer was never seen without a book these days. The knights would give him their usual greetings, all of them, besides Ogrim, who still would just look at him, but he had the feeling that Ogrim's glares became weaker over time.

One day, right after the Pale King had brought Hollow to bed after their sign language lessons, Ogrim approached him and said: "Your majesty, I need to talk to you."

His voice felt grave and heavy and the Pale King felt a pang in his chest, afraid of seeing the outcome of his intruding foresight from a few days ago, but he told Ogrim to come to the balcony which overlooked the castle grounds. There they stood now, with the Pale King looking down at the kingsmoulds patrolling and Ogrim standing next to him, apparently searching for words how to begin.

"I don't think I can forgive your actions, your majesty.", Ogrim finally said. "And I don't think that I want to."

While that weren't the words the Pale King desired to hear, he couldn't blame Ogrim for them.

"We won't force you to stay at our side, Ogrim.", he replied. "You don't have to stay in the services of a king you despise."

"Your majesty!", Ogrim said, hastily. "It isn't that I despise you... I just can't... condone your actions..."

"Neither can I.", the Pale King said, deliberately dropping the royal pronouns. Ogrim noticed it right away and looked at the Pale King the first time since they had started.

"Your majesty?", he said, voice trembling, only a tiny little bit. For the knight who normally was the most joyous of the bunch, it hurt seeing him at the edge of what could be tears.

"At this moment, talking to you, I am not your king, but just a father who was awfully wronged his child.", he said. "I was under the impression that I did the right thing, but I have been wrong. There isn't a single day where I regret my actions, regret what I have put Hollow through, asking myself why they came to me and told me that they don't hate me. They had every right to despise me with all their being, but they chose not to."

The Pale King turned to Ogrim and then said: "Maybe you despising me would make me feel better, because doing it myself only adds to the hurt every single day."

"...", Ogrim didn't said anything. No wonder, the Pale King had unloaded quite a bit of baggage on him. He hadn't planned to get so emotional, but he had to admit that he was exhausted. Confessing this part of him to anyone... it made him feel a tiny bit better. Maybe.

"Your majesty, I have to apologize.", Ogrim said. "I... have never considered how you felt about this whole deal. My mind was clouded by anger. Still... I think I need some time... I would like to leave the palace for a while and think for myself what it means to be a royal knight."

"So be it.", the Pale King said. "Stay assured that we will accept you back in our services should you decide to return. If you decide to leave, be aware about what that means."

"I am aware.", Ogrim said. "I plan to spend some time in the waterways. Send Isma to get me should there be an emergency. I just need some time alone to free my mind."

The Pale King nodded to Ogrim and then saw how he left. Well, his foresight had only partially came true apparently. He considered that conversation to having gone as well as it could.

This night, the Pale King slept in his Root's chambers again.

(Author's note:

I like to think that the foresight isn't very clear, just a bunch of strings that lead to possible futures, but to get the exact future, you would need to look again and again, pretty much not stopping moving in ways for the desired outcome, so PK normally was glancing at a future and hoped for the best, working on it.

Why do they have toilets in the Palace? Because canonically the bugs of Hollow Knight need them, I don't make the rules. We have Ogrim and the Royal Waterways as definite proof that poop exists in this game. While the White Palace clearly can't be connected to the waterways, it probably has its own sewer system somewhere below it, probably not as big as that of the City of Tears though.

I hope you enjoyed and I would be honoured if you leave your thoughts in a comment, in which you also can ask anything you feel you need clarification about. I love talking to you guys and I thank anyone who supported this story via likes, kudos, favs, reblogs or by leaving a comment.)


	11. Chapter 11

Characters: The Pale King/The White Lady, The Pure Vessel, Grimm, Lurien

Word Count: 7.835

Summary: The Pale King wants to see if Hollow is able to enter the dream realm, but during his demonstration, he has a rather unpleasant encounter...

(Author's note: It's time to move the plot forwards and there will be two new characters added to it in this chapter. It's my first time writing them. I hope you enjoy my interpretation of them.)

Around two weeks had passed since Ogrim had left to be alone with his thoughts. During this time span, the Pale King's day had played out in a very regulated manner. He woke up and took in breakfast with his Root and Hollow, then he would take care of the palace business, take in some lunch with his Root and Hollow, continue with palace business and then would spend the afternoons training soul arts with Hollow until dinner, then they would attend the sign language lessons from Quirrel together and after they were done, Hollow got into bed and the Pale King into his workshop, working on a new void experiment with not much success so far.

The great knights had offered to take up Hollow's training, now that the truth was out, and so sometimes the Pale King had a free afternoon which he would spend in his workshop, because Hollow was off training with the knights, learning how to keep their balance during a fight. Walking barely was a problem for them anymore, jumping sometimes ended in a crash, their biggest problem was dashing and teleporting, that almost always would result in them falling down.

While Hollow showed a great talent in many soul arts, like teleporting, soul pillars, soul projectiles and so on, their healing ability was the worst one. They could focus soul to heal themselves, but they used up a lot of it and they also only could heal themselves, not giving soul to another Higher Being. The Pale King assumed that it came from their void nature.

Luckily the great knights were gentle with Hollow and so they rarely hurt themselves during training. It was mostly handled by Hegemol and Isma with Dryya staying at his Root's side and Ze'mer being distracted by other things, when she even was at the palace. The Pale King knew that she often went to the Mantis Village to make sure that the infection hadn't taken over it yet. He would have send her there even without Ze'mer's love affair, because having the Mantis turned against Hallownest would not only mean a very powerful foe, but also that Deepnest would be able to invade. While he and Herrah had made up some fragile peace thanks to her role as a dreamer, which wasn't needed anymore, and thanks to Hornet, the child they had in common, a lot of creatures of Deepnest weren't that kind and anyone who got infected would be happy to attack Hallownest.

Thoughts like this made the Pale King worry. What if time would run out before he had a solution? His attempts at creating a void construct that would be able to weaken and hold the Radiance went nowhere and so his idea of trying to see how Hollow would fare in the dream realm came back to mind.

Once Quirrel announced that Hollow didn't need sign language lessons everyday anymore, their ability to communicate through it had greatly improved, they had more time for themselves. Quirrel still scheduled to come back once a week to teach additional sign language as well as gave Hollow a ton of homework, which kept them busy in the mornings, before he went back to the archives, but that meant their evenings were free.

It was the evening right after Quirrel had departed that the Pale King had took Hollow to his workshop. They sat down on a chair and looked at him with their head slightly cocked, their sign for curiosity.

"Hollow, I would like to try something.", the Pale King said. "Us Higher Beings have a special ability outside of our control over soul... Though, I have to admit, it isn't my strongest point. It's _her_ domain."

Hollow went a bit rigid when he mentioned the Radiance, but relaxed again when he continued to speak: "It's called the dream realm and it is possible for us Higher Beings to enter it at will. The dream realm is like a shift in reality, a place right next to us, but it isn't possible to see it through one's eyes. You have to shift your mind there to enter it. For mortal bugs, it is impossible to stay lucid there. Instead, they only visit it when they are asleep and it is where their dreams will play out."

Hollow nodded to his words and then signed one singled word: "Dreams?" They put a question mark at the end, so he knew it was a question.

_Void doesn't dream._The Pale King thought to himself. It had been his main reason for having wanted to use void to seal the Radiance. If only he had known that it still had feelings...! Well, it was to late to beat himself up over it, he already did this every night anyway.

"For most bugs, when they sleep, they start to dream. It is seeing pictures in their heads while they sleep, feeling like they are being a part of it, but they can't control what happens in them. Often the next day they wake, they can't recall what they were about and if they can, it is blurry and they are unsure about it. They have visited the dream realm in their sleep. It is through dreams that _she_ infects them."

Hollow nodded again and then signed: "Do you dream?"

The Pale King let out a soft sigh and then replied: "Yes, I do dream, though for me it is different. The moment I realize that I dream, I can easily take control over it and explore the dream realm. It is why _she_ can't affect me, I am aware about the infection."

Hollow nodded again and asked no further questions, simply waiting for him to continue: "So I would like to see if you are able to enter the dream realm. It is easiest when you try it with a sleeping bug, but that also means that you are locked in their dream. There is a method to enter the dream realm without needing a bug that sleeps. There are certain places in Hallownest which are full of the so called essence, the resource that wavers through the dream realm like blood, and in these places you can shift your mind into the dream realm."

The Pale King waited a few seconds to let his words sink in and then finished: "That means, that you will basically fall asleep once you are there, leaving your body defenseless. I would like to take you to a place with a high essence tomorrow instead of soul training, so that we can see if you inherited the ability to enter the dream realm."

Hollow nodded and once the Pale King told them that he was done with them, left without signing another word. Once they were gone, the Pale King rolled out a map of Hallownest and determined that a good place to train would be the Resting Grounds. It was an old place of the moth clan, full of essence and because nobody lived there anymore, no infected bugs would be around. As much as the Pale King didn't want to enter a place of Radiance worship, he knew it would be the best place to train entering the dream realm.

The next afternoon the Pale King met up with Hollow at their usual spot for soul training, but instead of training, the both ventured to the Resting Grounds like he had announced yesterday. The trip there was uneventful and once there, the Pale King started to head to the area where essence was abundant. He didn't paid any mind to his surrounding, so he only stopped when he noticed that he couldn't hear Hollow's footsteps anymore. As he turned around, slight panic rising into his chest, he breathed out in relief when he saw them standing a bit further down the path, staring at a certain grave.

"What's this?", they signed once the Pale King had come back to get them.

"It's a grave.", the Pale King said. "It's were bugs bury their deceased, to think about them and remember them, though, this grave has a bit of a different story."

"To... remember them?" Hollow took a bit of time signing the last two words, indicating that they were hesitating. Or maybe they just had to think about which signs to use.

"Yes, it is a common ritual among the mortal bugs.", the Pale King said. "We Higher Beings usually don't die from old age and even if we die, there isn't anyone who would bury us. Especially for wyrms it is common to either use the gift of rebirth or when it isn't used, to get devoured by the next best wyrm to come by."

Hollow seemed to shudder a bit at his words. Thinking about it, what was normal for him, probably wasn't normal for the bugs in Hallownest and Hollow had mainly gotten taught by Quirrel, who probably had taught them about his world view and not the world view of a Higher Being.

"It's nothing you have to worry about now, Hollow.", the Pale King said, in an attempt to lift the mood a bit. "We can talk about this topic another time."

Hollow raised their head to look at him and then looked back at the grave.

"Who is resting there?", they asked.

The Pale King grew silent for a moment, looking at the grave too, before he spoke: "In the early days of the infection, when it barely had manifested itself and only a few knew about it, there had been a soldier. He became obsessed with the idea to fight the infection head on and one day turned his nail against me. His grave was erected in this place to remind others that they never should turn their nail against the king."

Hollow looked at him and then at the grave again. They didn't sign anything anymore. They simply stared and after a while, they stepped away from the grave and looked at the Pale King, waiting for him to lead the way again.

The Pale King asked himself what Hollow was thinking, but he didn't want to ask. He never had talked about the concept of death with Hollow so far, but he knew that they had to be very familiar with it.

After all, right after they had hatched they had seen the shells of their deceased siblings and on their way up they had seen many many others fall to their death.

That they had managed to climb out of the Abyss without stopping or looking back was what had the Pale King convinced that they were the Pure Vessel. How wrong he had been.

There was kind of a heavy silence between them as the Pale King led the way until he stopped in front of a tree with leaves that had a shape that only could be considered unusual. They looked exactly like the essence, the indicator that the rift to enter the dream realm was very near. It was the only way the leaves of this trees could have been influenced to grow in this particular way.

"Here is it.", the Pale King said. "Near these trees, called Whispering Roots, it is possible to shift your consciousness into the dream realm. I will show you how it is done and then we will practice for you to enter the dream realm." Hopefully Hollow would be able to enter the dream realm or they had to start at square one.

Hollow nodded, showing that they understood. "I will fall asleep once I enter the dream realm, so please don't panic. I will wake up as soon as I leave it again. Just... catch me once I fall asleep, please."

Hollow nodded again and the Pale King took a deep breath, concentrating on the shift in reality. He just needed to find the rift, the tiny rift that was filled to the brim with essence and then when he concentrated on it, he would be able to shift his consciousness into the dream realm.

There. He had found it. With his mind fully focused on the rift, he tore it open and felt his body go limp.

When his mind woke up, he didn't saw the usual golden colours and the white coloured essence that was typical for the dream realm. Instead, everything around him felt rather dark and red... even the essence floating around him was red.

He blinked, wondering if something was wrong with his vision. He looked around and then his gaze focused on a bed in front of him, or more, the one lying on this bed.

"Pendry?", the Nightmare King said, pulling himself up, facing him. "What are you doing here?"

"Um...", the Pale King started. That had been entirely the wrong realm. He wanted to enter the dream realm, not the nightmare realm. How had this happened? He even had materialized right in front of the Nightmare King.

"Wrong realm, our apologies.", he just said and then ran out of the room, jumping down the next best cliff, the easiest way to get his body to wake up, hoping that he would forget about this awkwardness once he had woken up.

He jolted awake and looked at Hollow's face above him. Despite them not being able to emote, he kind of knew they were worried. He could feel it.

"I am fine, Hollow.", he said and pulled himself up on his feet. "I just... made a tiny mistake. Let me try this again."

Before the Pale King could concentrate on the rift again however, flames suddenly started to appear and danced around them. Hollow's gaze followed them and they cocked their head at them, seeming to be rather fascinated by the sight.

"Oh no no no...", the Pale King sighed, knowing what would come next.

As anticipated, in a flash of flames, Grimm, the mortal form of the Nightmare King appeared in front of them, spreading his wings in a dramatic manner and bowing to them once his flames had vanished.

"Pendry!", he said, teleporting in another flash of flames to the Pale King. "We haven' seen each other in so long and once you show your face in my realm, you leave with barely an explanation? How should I feel about that?"

Before the Pale King could even open his mouth to explain his situation, Grimm's eyes had locked onto Hollow. "Oh and who do we have here?", he said, teleporting next to them and taking their hand to shake: "I am the Troupe Master, Grimm, and what would your name be?"

"They are called Hollow.", the Pale King answered for them. Hollow just stared at Grimm who still was holding their hand in a shake, seeming a bit confused. The Pale King hadn't taught them about hand shakes as a greeting. As the Pure Vessel, they hadn't been expected to be able to communicate with anyone after all and in his presence, other bugs usually bowed to them.

"Why are you answering for them?", Grimm asked. The Pale King was about to open his mouth to tell Grimm that they couldn't sign when he was occupying their hand, when Grimm suddenly bowed down and took a sniff at their hand. Hollow, apparently, uncomfortable, took a step back.

"I am sorry, child.", Grimm said. "I didn't want to make you feel uneasy... I just can barely believe it." Grimm finally let go of Hollow's hand and turned to the Pale King, his face twisting into a grin, which looked kind of weird with the way his mouth was shaped. "Pendry! Weren't it you who said to me that you don't want to raise a child? And now I see your very brood standing in front of me!"

"We never said, that...", the Pale King started, his tail twitching, but Grimm made a dismissing hand gesture at him.

"Cut it out, Pendry, your smell is all over them.", he said. "There's also the smell of Root... and of Void. Why, you must have been busy, Pendry!", Grimm grinned again and the Pale King lost his patience, his light shining brighter and his wings flaring out.

"With who we share our bed is none of your business anymore!", he yelled, uncharacteristically loud for him. He hated it. Grimm always made him lose his temper and his cool.

"I am just joking, Pendry.", Grimm said. "By the way, you can stop with the royal pronouns, we did the dance together, remember?"

The Pale King gasped and rushed over to Hollow to cover their earholes. In return, they only gave him a glance, seemingly confused. "Not in front of my child, Grimm! Besides, that wasn't you, that was your predecessor."

"Yes, but I have all his memories.", Grimm said.

Hollow, in the meantime, finally got their composure back and signed only one word: "What?"

The Pale King sighed, uncovering their earholes and then explained: "My apologies, Hollow, this must be all very confusing for you. Grimm here is a Higher Being, in charge over the nightmare realm. And he is, uh, a past lover of mine."

Hollow stared at Grimm and then the Pale King and then seemed to gasp. "Your E X.", they signed.

"My what?", the Pale King asked.

"E X. A lover which you broke up with.", Hollow signed to him. It was that moment that the Pale King remembered that Hollow was reading all this horrible romance novels, they probably had the word from there.

"Yes, that would be the correct way to put it.", Grimm said. "Your kid has their wits about them, even though they don't seem to possess.. a voice."

Of course Grimm had to point out the obvious. The Pale King stared at him with narrowed eyes, his light flickering, his tail pounded on the ground. "What do you want?"

"Asking you what you made in my realm, of course.", Grimm said.

"I told you it was a mistake.", the Pale King said, feeling his wings jittering. They were about to flare up again.

"Mistake? Oh no, Pendry, you don't enter the nightmare realm by mistake. There is something about you that pulled you into it. It's pasted all over you. Your failures and your regrets. That is what pulled you in." Grimm's face twisted into a grin again.

"...", the Pale King didn't say anything. Instead, he just turned around, folding his wings back in. "Come Hollow.", he said, taking their hand. "We are leaving."

Just as he did the first step, Grimm appeared out of his flames in front of him. "Just a fair warning.", he said. "The void is nothing to be toyed with. Neither is my sister."

The Pale King stopped and gestured for Hollow to stay behind him. "How much do you know?", he asked, tail starting to curl around his leg.

"My sister is throwing a temper tantrum.", Grimm said. "We both rule over the dream realm, I can feel it. Her anger is leaking out and probably causes massive problems in your realm."

Well, that was spot on. "Unfortunately.", the Pale King said and then glanced to Hollow who still stood behind him, probably still rather confused. "That hasn't been everything."

"I don't spend my time looking at what you are doing with your free time.", Grimm said. "But that child behind you is proof that you tried to do something against it. Maybe... by creating a vessel that could hold my sister? She can't grasp hold of anything which is void... though I think you messed that one up."

The Pale King noticed Hollow flinching behind them and squeezed their hand. "That was very rude, Grimm.", he said, feeling utterly miserable because how true Grimm's words had been, even his light had dimmed in response to his feelings. The original purpose of Hollow, now all a memory of the past, filled with regrets, brought back to the front of his mind, but it was even worse that Hollow had been present when Grimm had spoken these words.

"You should apologize to my child.", he hissed, his wings once again flaring up, his tail uncurling and raising into the air, even lifting his robe a bit.

"Should I? Or maybe... it is you who should apologize?" That nail had went right into the Pale King's chest and he actually physically grabbed for his robes in front of it, having felt the pang there far too intense, as both his wings and his tails went downwards in an instant.

"I already did...", the Pale King said.

"But you don't think it's enough.", Grimm said. "You ask yourself over and over why, every time you sleep you are plagued by nightmares. You despise what you have done and what you have become. No amounts of apologies can make up for what you did. And you know it."

The Pale King felt himself deflate for every word that Grimm spoke. He was right. He was speaking out all his regrets, his fears, his failures and... how much he hated himself for it. The Pale King sank down onto his knees, feeling the inevitable coming, when Hollow stepped in front of him and signed.

"Stop. I have forgive father.", they signed. "Stop hurting him, please."

"You have a good kid, Pendry.", Grimm said. "Fine, I'll stop. I have a ritual to prepare anyway. The flames feel ripe."

This remark managed to get the Pale King to raise his head and he hissed: "My kingdom isn't dead yet."

"I was not talking about _your_ kingdom.", Grimm said and then transformed into a ball of fire. "I will set up my tent in Dirtmouth.", he said. "Come visit me again, Pendry."

Just as suddenly as he had appeared, Grimm had vanished. The Pale King took a shuddering breath. Why, just why did he had to say all these things while Hollow was present? That part of him that he tried so hard to hide...

He felt an ice cold hand on his shoulder and when he looked, Hollow signed: "Father, are you alright?"

The Pale King took another deep breath and said: "I am fine, Hollow. Thank you. What about you?"

"Confused.", they signed.

"Yes, of course.", the Pale King said. "No surprise, it was Grimm after all. It has been centuries since I last saw him."

"Tell me about it.", Hollow signed.

"If that's your wish, but not here.", the Pale King said. "Let's go find a bench and sit down."

Once they sat on the nearest bench, Hollow munching on a sandwich that the Pale King had found in his belongings, probably snuck in by his Root, he started to tell his story.

"When I was still a young wyrm and had freshly transformed into my current form, I was wandering these lands. One day I encountered a strange lantern. I could feel a power emitting from it, so I went closer to it to examine it and once I touched it, Grimm appeared before me.

He was very interested in me, claiming that he never has seen a wyrm transformed, looking through me in an instant, though the same was true for him. I could see that he had only took his form to walk on this realm. His true form is bound to the nightmare realm. He actually can't hold this body for too long, he regularly has to undergo a ritual to renew it."

"He was talking about a ritual.", Hollow signed, their half eaten sandwich laying in their lap.

"Yes, the ritual. He harvests flames of fallen kingdoms and infuses a part of him that he calls his Grimmchild with them. Once the ritual is complete, his current form dies and the Grimmchild grows up to the next Grimm, with all his memories intact."

"Something like that is possible?", Hollow signed.

"Yes, it is, but it requires quite an amount of effort.", the Pale King sighed. "Once Grimm and I met, we decided to try out a relationship, because..." Because they had shared the bed with each other and the Pale King had woken up the next morning and asking himself why he had done that and... he couldn't tell his child the truth. "Because we were both Higher Beings.", he finally said, cringing at his lame excuses. At least it was true that Higher Beings were rare and they usually weren't interested in mortals.

"It didn't work out?", Hollow signed.

"Obviously.", the Pale King said. "At first it wasn't so bad, but over time it just... didn't work out. Grimm just always would teleport and appear from his flash of fire, I swear I never have seen him use that legs of his. He kept appearing in my dreams and mess around there. He had strange fun playing pranks on me, even in the middle of the night. Even though he normally apologized for them, he never would stop. He also told me that I was too stiff and..." No, he probably shouldn't mention that Grimm had said that he literally seemed to walk as if he had a stick in his ass in front of Hollow. "He tried to convince me to fulfil the ritual.", he said instead.

The Pale King still remembered that he had snapped his day, above all the chaos that Grimm had brought in his life, he suddenly had expected for him to take care of his child and even make it into the new Grimm. That was just too weird and during that time the Pale King hadn't even thought about being a father (or ever, though he was a father now and better learned to act like one) and it just had ended with them screaming what they didn't like about each other. The whole Grimm Troupe must have heard their argument.

"During this time I already had met your mother.", the Pale King said. "It was enough for me to break up with Grimm. We just... weren't a good fit. Especially because I knew there was someone I wanted to share my soul with."

His Root hadn't fully ascended back then, still having been rooted to the ground, not able to move. He had visited her often and told her about everything she couldn't experience on her own or slept leaned against her stem or just spend time with her while they whispered sweet nothings to each other. He had known then and there that she was the love of his life and he regretted that he ever had gotten involved with Grimm. Even though not everything had been bad with him... he didn't like to think back about this time and the messy breakup they had.

"I see.", Hollow signed and picked up their sandwich again. The Pale King went silent and just looked at the ground, feeling a bit lost in thought. He had brought Hollow here to train them to enter the dream realm, not to meet his past lover and get reminded of all his regrets through him.

The Pale King only looked up again when a sandwich entered his vision.

"I am not hungry, Hollow.", he said.

"Mother said I should make sure that you eat.", Hollow signed and presented the sandwich to him again. The Pale King sighed and took the sandwich.

"I'll don't have much of an appetite, but I'll try.", he said. The thought that his Root was just worried about him and his admittedly neglected food intake let the sandwich taste a little bit better.

"Tiktik meat.", he commented while he was eating. "That reminds me of the time when there had been an overabundance of Tiktiks. Their population had suddenly exploded. We had to send out soldiers to thin them out and for weeks we only got to eat Tiktik meat in the palace. The kitchen tried to get as creative as possible, but after a while nobody in the White Palace wanted to see a Tiktik in their life ever again. Our diet went to be rather vegan for a while after that..."

"I like Tiktik meat.", was all that Hollow had to sign in response to his little story.

"Let me see if you still would say that after you had to eat nothing but Tiktik meat for three months straight.", the Pale King said and finished his sandwich. "Shall we go home, Hollow?"

"What about the dream realm?", Hollow asked.

"You sure you are up for it?", the Pale King asked. "Grimm didn't scare you off?"

Hollow shook their head and pointed into the direction of the whispering root. "I want to try.", they signed.

"Alright then, Hollow.", the Pale King smiled, there surely was some kind of determination in his kid. "Let's train to enter the dream realm."

The duo arrived in front of the root and the Pale King said: "Alright, Hollow, entering the dream realm is mainly a matter of focusing. You have to find the rift in reality and then concentrate your whole self on it, then you can enter the dream realm with your consciousness intact. Your body will fall asleep for the time, but don't worry, I will make sure that you lie comfortable."

Hollow nodded and sat down, focusing... only for soul to appear around them, like if they would heal themselves.

"No, Hollow, we don't focus on Soul.", the Pale King said and gently took their hand and laid it on one of the leaves of the whispering root. "We focus on essence. Try to remember how this feels and search the rift between it. Understood?"

Hollow left their hand on the leaves for a while before they nodded. They then tried again... only to focus Soul again. The Pale King hoped they would get it soon, because they were in danger to run out of Soul if they kept messing up.

Two hours later Hollow still hadn't succeeded. While they eventually had gotten it down to not focus on Soul anymore, what didn't work for them was finding the rift. The Pale King had demonstrated them again and again how it would feel finding the rift and went into the dream realm himself once even (this time even managing to not entering the nightmare realm), but Hollow just didn't get it.

After a good while had passed, Hollow huffed and threw their nail to the ground which they had held to better focus. "I can't do it.", they signed.

"Don't give up right away, Hollow.", the Pale King said. "It takes time. Nobody has entered the dream realm on their first try."

"I can't even feel it.", Hollow signed, exaggerating the word feel. "It doesn't feel any different for me. It is like it doesn't exist."

"Hmmm...", the Pale King mused. "That can't be... all Higher Beings should be able to find the dream realm, we can dream after all... Wait...!"

Hollow flinched at his sudden shout and stared at him. "My apologies for scaring you, Hollow.", the Pale King said. "Hollow, you don't dream. Because you are void."

Void doesn't dream. The Pale King knew it and still he had tried to teach a void being to get into the dream realm. It had been his reason to use a void being for the Radiance's sealing in the first place. No dreams, no infection. While Hollow clearly had a mind and a will which still could get infected, something they didn't do was dreaming.

"I can't remember having dreamt.", Hollow signed and looked at the ground. "So, it's not possible."

"I am afraid you are correct...", the Pale King said. "You can't enter the dream realm when you don't have a feel for it."

When Hollow continued to look at the ground, the Pale King said. "Oh, but don't worry please Hollow, you can still help me. Maybe we even find a way to let you enter the dream realm." The Pale King remembered that mortal bugs had a way to enter the dream realm, though he didn't remember what it had been. He should do some research on the matter.

"For now, let's go home. You must be exhausted after having used up all that Soul accidentally."

Hollow nodded and stood up, searching for the Pale King's hand. The Pale King knew that they barely fell over anymore, but he still took their hand. They only wanted comfort and he surely wouldn't deny his child this little gesture.

Once they had arrived at home and Hollow had retreated to the bathroom to fill up their Soul in the hot spring, the Pale King went to take a look at his office and noticed that in his absence a new letter had been placed there. He first wanted to ignore it, read it the next day, when he noticed the sigil of the Watcher on it. That concerned him. Lurien normally only wrote when there was some trouble in the city, so the Pale King picked up the letter to read.

The first part of the letter was a long and drawn out apology about that Lurien should have trusted the Pale King more about his plan and that, as long as if the city would be kept save, he would support any other plan the Pale King had, so that he hadn't to follow the Vessel plan anymore. The Pale King remembered that initially Lurien had expressed his dislike for the Vessel plan not coming to fruition.

The next part of the letter was more interesting. Lurien apparently had noticed something unusual in the city, but didn't specify what it was. Instead, he asked for an audience with the Pale King, so that he could tell him directly what concerned him. At the same time, he asked for Hollow to be present too, or the "Pale Heir" as he called them.

The Pale King already had a stone tablet in hand and had Soul focuses on his fingertip to summon Lurien to the palace, when he stopped. Lurien wanted to speak with the Pale King and Hollow should be present too. The Pale King had noticed that Hollow found it rather interesting to see different parts of Hallownest as opposed to be stuck in the White Palace, so the Pale King wrote down in his letter that he and Hollow would instead come to the Watcher's Spire.

After the Pale King had given the letter to one of his retainers to deliver right away, he went to find his Root which he found in one of the usually unoccupied rooms, arranging flowers.

"My Wyrm.", the White Lady smiled once she noticed him standing in the door, but her smile fell into a frown. "What's wrong, my love?"

The Pale King entered the room and closed the door behind him. "Today I have taken Hollow to practice how to enter the dream realm.", the Pale King said. The White Lady's frown deepened, probably asking herself why he found it important for their child to be able to enter the dream realm.

"Did they catch up on it?", she asked instead, continuing to put flowers into a vase, carefully arranging them.

"No, they have trouble with finding the rift.", the Pale King said. "It isn't why I have come anyway. My Root... when I entered the dream realm, I accidentally entered the nightmare realm."

The White Lady stopped in her movements and a rose between her branches snapped. "My Wyrm, nobody enters the nightmare realm on accident.", she said, mimicking what Grimm had said earlier.

"...You know why it happened...", the Pale King simply said and then, before she could say anything else, continued: "I landed right in front of the Nightmare King, which... prompted him to appear in our realm."

The White Lady stopped tending to the flowers and turned to the Pale King. "Grimm is here? That could be your opportunity to talk to him about the infection. I know you had a history with each other, but he knows more about her than the both of us."

"...I actually was hoping you would say something else...", the Pale King said. As usual, his wife was far more practical than she looked like. It didn't even bother her that he and Grimm once had been in a relationship. It also hadn't bothered her that he had a …certain kind of brief relationship with Herrah. In a sense, that she felt safe and secure for his love, made the Pale King feel a bit proud.

"Your breakup has been messy, I remember.", the White Lady said. "But it has been centuries ago and the Grimm from back then isn't even there anymore, he surely has been replaced by his successor." She sat down on a stool big enough for her and gestured for the Pale King to come closer.

"I know, but he still has his memories.", the Pale King said as he walked towards his Root and clambered up in her lap. "What I am concerned about, Hollow was with me and he found out in an instant that they are a void being. He also found out without trouble what I had gone through for Hollow to come into our lives. I know, I should probably go and talk to him, but I...", he trailed off.

"You are scared to get confronted with your regrets.", the White Lady said, stroking his wings, making the Pale King cuddle in her embrace. Only his Root knew how to touch his wings and make it not feel unpleasant. "I get your concerns, my Wyrm.", she continued. "There is not a single day where I don't regret my involvement in the plan we had to abandon. But, I try to make up for it by getting to know Hollow. While I often ask myself how it would have been when our children had survived, it shouldn't have been. But Hollow is still there and they give us a chance, a chance to be their parents, a chance that we nearly threw away."

The Pale King shuddered a bit at her words, as calming as they were meant, he remembered Grimm's remark about him having to apologize to Hollow and that Hollow, the child that had every right to hate him, had forgiven him, stood up for him even.

"Why has Hollow forgiven me?", he asked, looking his Root in her beautiful blue eyes.

"That's easy.", his Root chuckled. "Because they love you."

The Pale King had stayed in his Root's embrace for a little while longer and told her about Lurien's request. When he told her that he intended to take Hollow to the Watcher's Spire, she chuckled again and when the Pale King just looked at her with confusion, she told him it was nothing, she just thought about something funny.

Eventually she went back to her flower arrangement and the Pale King left the room to go spend a bit of time in his workshop again. He still had trouble creating creating the void construct in his mind, but he would go nowhere if he didn't try. He spend the better rest of the day experimenting with spells until it was time for dinner and after dinner, his Root gently reminded him to get to bed, after the both of them had repeated some sign language practices with Hollow, so that they wouldn't get out of practice.

The next day another letter from Lurien arrived, in which he specified a date and time when the Pale King could visit the Watcher's Spire. His letter felt a bit off, the normally beautifully written cursive letters felt crude and as if they had been put on the tablet in a hurry, the tablet was even smudged here and there.

The Pale King didn't paid it too much mind, maybe he just had been busy. He made sure to tell his Royal Retainers about the day he wouldn't be present and also went to tell Hollow about their visit to the Watcher's Spire. As anticipated, they seemed rather fascinated and wanted to know a few things about the place they would visit in roughly three days. Their interest only doubled when the Pale King told them that Lurien could tell them more about the art of music and playing instruments and as a result, they became rather bouncy during lessons, which ended in them falling over far more often than usual. The only good thing coming out of it was, that they learned to heal with Soul a lot faster.

Once the day of the visit had come, the Pale King took Hollow, dressed in their robe, and the both of them went to the Watcher's Spire. It was far closer than Deepnest or the Resting Grounds and they had to cross the City of Tears again. Hollow wanted to watch the rain again, but the Pale King had to urge them to get on, as much as it pained him. Maybe Lurien would let them use his telescope and then they could watch the whole city from above. The Pale King thought that Hollow would like that.

On the way to the Spire, they crossed a room in which six bulky bugs with great nails were stationed. They bowed to both the Pale King and Hollow and continued to watch them after they had left. "These are Lurien's Watcher Knights.", the Pale King explained to Hollow as they gave him the look. "He trained them to protect his sleeping body once he would become a dreamer. Now, that this won't happen anymore, he probably should search for a new task for them."

Hollow looked back at the room with the Watcher's Knights with their hand on their nail. Maybe they wanted to spar with them. The Pale King didn't thought it was the best idea, the Watcher Knight's had been trained to perform in pairs and he found a battle like that could be too difficult for Hollow. He hoped that they wouldn't ask for a sparring match, though, they normally always asked him first when they wanted something, outside of the coffee incident and the Pale King didn't want to be reminded of that.

They rode the elevator up to the entrance and once in front of the Spire, the Pale King knocked at the door. A short moment after, a small bug opened the door and bowed deeply when he saw the prominent guests. The Pale King remembered the bug to be Lurien's butler, though he couldn't recall a name.

"Your majesty.", Lurien's butler said. "Pale Heir. Please step inside."

It wasn't surprising that Lurien's butler knew about Hollow, Quirrel had known too. It was inevitable for those close to the dreamers to get to know the truth. "Rise.", the Pale King said and stepped inside, his hands folded behind his back, Hollow following him, head jerking around, fascinated at the look of the Spire.

It must have been a long time since the Pale King last had been there, but not much had changed. The big telescope pointed at the city was still the main eyecatcher. The room was dimly lit by candles. In the middle, a low table was seen with cushions lined around. In a corner, there was a canvas with a half finished drawing and a suitcase which shape indicated that it housed some kind of instrument. There were also a lot of stone tablets neatly stacked on a desk. The entire place looked strangely clean, as if Lurien had made sure that it would be in shipshape.

"Master Lurien. Your guests have arrived.", Lurien's butler said once the once dreamer came into view, as usual dressed in a long blue robe, making it impossible to say which bug was underneath and wearing his mask with only one eyehole.

"Your majesty, welcome to my humble home.", Lurien bowed down until his head almost hit the ground, his voice feeling a bit jittery. "Lucien, would you please bring our guests some coffee?"

"Very well.", Lucien said. "Please allow me to ask how you prefer your coffee and if the Pale Heir is allowed to get a cup too."

"Just black, twice as strong as usual.", Lurien answered for the Pale King and then looked at Hollow.

"Tell him what you want.", the Pale King encouraged Hollow, still a bit surprised that Lurien knew his coffee preference that exactly. Hollow signed a few words and the Pale King translated for them. "They would like Hot Chocolate." They signed a few more words and the Pale King added: "And they want to be called Hollow."

"Please come sit down while we wait for Lucien to be finished.", Lurien said and soon the three of them sat on the fluffy cushions around the low table, Hollow still being rather fascinated about the Spire while the Pale King looked at Lurien.

"What is it you wanted to talk to us about?", he asked, getting straight to the point. If there was trouble in the city, he was responsible for it, especially when it was a surge of the infection.

"Your majesty.", Lurien started, getting interrupted by Lucien bringing the refreshments, putting a cup with steaming hot liquid in front of each them and adding a few pastries, which Hollow eyed instantly. After the Pale King reassured them that they could take them, Lurien continued.

"You are aware that it is my duty to watch the city and listen to the city. Over the last few weeks, there have been... certain rumours. Rumours about you, who is known to almost never leave the palace, seen wandering the city twice, and both of the times, you have been in the company of the same bug, too young to be one of your knights."

The Pale King got a heavy feeling in his chest. He had feared that it would happen, but he had hoped that he still had a bit of time. When Hollow noticed that both the Pale King and Lurien had looked at them, they stopped eating their pastry and cocked their head.

"The rumours worsened, your majesty.", Lurien sighed. "There are rumours that the bug in your company may be related to you. Their face looks too closely to yours. You have been seen treating them like more than a knight. The rumours went further and further and now it is a common believe that they may be... your own child and therefore, the heir of Hallownest."

(Author's note:

Oh boy, name drop! I was dying to write that scene since I decided for this fic to not be a oneshot and it felt good to finally having it down on paper.

What? Grimm is allowed to know sign language, the guy had a lot of time to learn all kind of stuff and with his troupe, he probably needs to know a few different languages.

So, when I thought about Lurien's butler, I wanted to give him a name. But then ruthlesslistener beat me to it and called him Lucien and that was the _iperfect/i_ name, so I asked him if I could adopt it and I was allowed to, yaaay!

As always, I hope you enjoyed and I would be honoured to read about your opinions down in the comments.)


	12. Chapter 12

Characters: The Pale King/The White Lady, The Pure Vessel, Lurien the Watcher, Lurien's Butler

Word Count: 8.551

Summary: The Pale King and Hollow have a talk with Lurien about making Hollow's existence public. They spend some time with the White Lady for the same reason. And last, Hollow experiences something new.

(Author's note: Lots of headcanons in this one. I talk more about them later, in the end notes. Please enjoy.)

"We were fearing that it would happen.", the Pale King said, his already strong coffee tasting even more bitter after Lurien had dropped the news on him. "But we still hoped that we would have some more time to sort everything out."

"May I suggest to make the news official better sooner than later, your majesty?", Lurien asked. "If you leave the rumours like they are, they may worsen and only turn into something more major."

The Pale King didn't answer at first, instead he was looking at Hollow. He knew that Lurien was right, he was aware that one day he would have made Hollow known to the public, but in his personal world that day had been far away, a day after they had dealt with the infection, not while they were in the middle of it and he accidentally had summoned Grimm to the realm through his actions.

Hollow, however, seemed to take his stare in a different way, because they put their cup down and signed, with shuddering hands: "Have I done something wrong?"

"What? No, Hollow, you haven't done anything wrong.", the Pale King reassured his child immediately. The Pale King looked to Lurien accepting the Watcher to say something too, but he was quiet, his expression under the mask not be able to seen and he seemingly fidgeted under his cloak. Whatever was on his mind seemed to put him into a dilemma.

The Pale King decided to ignore him for now and kept talking to Hollow. "It is on me, I knew that the citizens would get ideas and still showed myself in public with you. As you know, your existence as the Pure Vessel was kept secret from everyone despite the palace staff and the dreamers. I... never expected to step in front of the public and explain your existence to them."

Hollow's head sank when he talked about their role as the Pure Vessel. "Do they have to know?", they signed.

"About your role as the Pure Vessel?", the Pale King asked, taken aback. That had almost broken his relationship with the five great knights, the citizens knowing about that part sounded like a rather bad idea, in fact, it sounded like a disastrous idea.

"I wouldn't advise to tell them about that part.", Lurien chimed in.

Hollow violently shook their head at both of them and then signed: "No, about me... existing..."

"I am afraid they already know about your existence, child.", Lurien said, sipping on his own coffee, in a way that it was impossible to look beneath the mask.

"Hollow...", the Pale King started. "I won't ever force you to do anything that you don't want, but... we have to introduce you to the public one day and Lurien is right, for the peace of the kingdom, it is better when we don't wait. You don't have to deliver a big speech.", the Pale King stopped for about a second before continuing, "Um, not that you could, but, show yourself at my side while I explain that you are the child of me and my Root, do you think you can do that?"

Hollow seemed to think for a moment and then signed: "I only have to stand at your side and don't do anything?"

The Pale King nodded to them.

"I can do that. I am good at doing nothing.", Hollow signed and they seemed a lot more satisfied than before, all while the Pale King felt a stab of guilt in his chest, because of course they knew how to stand still and do nothing, but they didn't knew how to handle the public, because of the way he had raised them.

The Pale King's eyes wandered back to Lurien who still hold his coffee cup in both hands, or whatever he had, his robes were over them. He felt an intense need to drink from his own cup to soothe his nerves, so he did just that.

"You know how the nobles in the city are.", Lurien said. "They probably would get offended if such an important announcement would made directly to the public. It would be the best to talk to the queen first, as far as I know, she handles the social affairs of the kingdom."

"Yes, that is correct.", the Pale King said and his light dimmed a bit. It was one thing stepping in front of the public and tell them an announcement, that only would take a few minutes and then he could recharge in his work shop, but the nobles... and probably also the rulers of their allies, like Herrah or the Mantis Lords, all would need to be invited into the palace for a party. That meant countless of hours of him having to act to the whims of their guests and it was... torture to say the least. Normally his Root would handle it, but with Hollow there, he didn't want to leave their side and also it would be more than rude, when the father of the heir wouldn't be present. Even as reclusive as he was, he knew that some actions wouldn't be excused.

"We thank you for your advice.", the Pale King told, carefully putting his coffee cup back on the saucer. "Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?"

Lurien shook his head, which more looked like his whole robe twisted around. The Pale King asked himself how exactly Lurien looked under this robes and without his mask. He had seen Herrah in more great detail than he had ever asked for and Monomon was clearly from the Uoma family, but nobody had ever seen Lurien shed this robes. Maybe he was ashamed about whatever was under them. The Pale King could relate to him wanting to keep it a secret though, he normally also wore his robes because of his body that looked more alien to the mortal bugs, remnants of his wyrm body.

"Then we would like to ask you something.", the Pale King said and Lurien went rigid, but relaxed when he said: "Or more, Hollow would like to ask you something."

Hollow, with their cup in hands, looked at him and only moved when he said: "Go on, ask Lurien your question."

They put the cup back down and then signed. Their question actually surprised the Pale King a bit, because he thought that they wanted to ask something different.

"Can I look at the city from up here?"

"Well.", Lurien said after the Pale King had translated their words. "Certainly, that is pretty much what I do in my spire, watching the city, I didn't get the title of Watcher for nothing. Would you like to take a look through the telescope?"

Hollow looked at the Pale King again and once he gave them a little nod, they shyly nodded to Lurien.

"Then please follow me, Pale Heir.", Lurien said as he stood up. Hollow flinched a bit and then stood up to follow him. The Pale King looked at them, it wasn't the first time that Hollow had reactive negatively to someone calling them by their title. In fact, more than once, they had shown the desire to be simply called Hollow. While it wasn't a problem for the likes of Herrah, Lurien, a more than devoted follower to the Pale King, would have the utmost difficulty to talk so casually to his king's child. He decided to explain it to Hollow later, but also try to tell Lurien that he should call Hollow by their preferred name.

The Pale King got up and followed Lurien and his child, from the corner of his eyes, he saw how Lucien hurried over and started to clean up any dirty dishes from the table. Hollow and Lurien had arrived at the telescope and Lurien explained to Hollow how it functioned. Shortly later, Hollow looked through it and their body language revealed that they were rather fascinated. The Pale King noticed that they had the telescope angled so that they mostly could look at the rain pouring down on the city, not on the city itself.

"A rather fascinating sight, isn't it?", Lurien said. "I often paint this view from up here, the city is so beautiful... I want to see it remain for all eternity."

The Pale King flinched at Lurien's words. That was what he had promised him for his service as a dreamer. To keep the city safe. Now that he knew that Hollow wasn't in fact, well, hollow, he asked himself what would have happened if he had gone through with the original plan. Had Lurien laid down to dream only for the city to get slowly infected over time and his spire would stand guard over a city that had fallen down? That would have made the name City of Tears even more fitting.

Regardless, the infection wasn't beaten yet. There still was a very real possibility that the city would fall. The Pale King very much needed to take measurements and his best bet for now was to quarantine everyone who was infected. Lurien surely could help him with it, but he decided to put this talk for later, for now, it was about Hollow.

They seemed to be able to watch the city for hours, because they hadn't grown bored even after around twenty minutes had passed. "Hollow, it is time that you give Lurien his telescope back.", the Pale King said and they instantly stopped and stepped away from the telescope, but not without another look in its direction, as if they wanted to keep going. "There was another thing we wanted to ask, remember?"

Hollow looked back at the telescope and, after a few seconds, had passed, they signed: "Music!"

"Yes, indeed.", the Pale King said as he followed Lurien back to the table and sat himself down on a cushion, curling his tail comfortably around his feet. "Lurien, we wanted to ask you about playing music. Aren't you playing an instrument of your own?"

The Pale King noticed that a new cup of coffee as well as a new cup of chocolate had been placed on the table. Lucien really was on the ball.

"Me? Oh no, that must have been a misunderstanding.", Lurien said. "I chose painting as my artistic outlet. It is Lucien here who plays the violin.", he gestured at his butler. "He often accompanies my painting sessions with his music, it helps me concentrate."

"Only the ones that Master allows me to see, of course.", Lucien said and the Pale King saw how Lurien got rigid, asking himself what the problem was, he often didn't want for anyone to see his projects, it made him nervous and he got annoyed by people asking questions.

"W-well...", Lurien said after his stiffness ended, "You are interested in playing an instrument of your own?"

Hollow nodded at that question.

"There exist a lot of different instruments to choose, but all of them require a lot of practice. Anyone who can play the instrument can act as a teacher, but some bugs made it their living to teach others how to play an instrument. If you would be interested in learning the violin, however, Lucien surely could show you how."

Lurien gestured at Lucien who gave them all a slight bow.

"What kind of instrument are you interested in playing anyway, child?"

Hollow didn't waste any time to sign it out and the Pale King translated for them, feeling a bit disheartened by their words: "Anything where they don't need to use a voice or a mouth..."

"That cancels out any wind instruments.", Lurien spoke. "It leaves a good amount of instruments which are played by your hands alone, like the violin, the piano, the drums, the harp..." Lurien interrupted himself when he caught Hollow staring with their head angled at him.

"You don't know how any of these instruments look like, correct?"

They shook their head and the Pale King answered for them: "It never had been a necessary to teach them about music, because..." He didn't want to finish the sentence, he had hurt Hollow enough already in their life.

"Y-yes, I understand.", Lurien said, his robes rustling, "It would be best to take them into a shop that sells instruments and let them choose for themselves, your majesty."

The Pale King simply gave Lurien a small nod at his words.

"Like this, they can see what they want to try and which instrument they would like to learn. It can take years to master an instrument, right, Lucien?"

"I started playing the violin when I was younger than Hollow here and I still have to practice regularly.", Lucien spoke.

"So the earlier you start to practice, the better. May I ask why you are interested in learning an instrument, Pale Heir?", Lurien asked, making Hollow flinch again and sign three words before they signed out their answer.

"First, they ask you to be called Hollow.", the Pale King said, now fully convinced that Hollow didn't like to be called by that title. "Second, they said... because... they don't have a voice..." The second part was much more difficult for the Pale King to say, his own guilt about having robbed them of their voice creeping up to haunt him, again. Involuntarily, he had to think about that none of the vessels had a voice and all of them that had fallen to their death... couldn't even scream their suffering once their shells cracked...

He felt himself shivering slightly.

"Well, music is a form of expression, as is art.", Lurien said. "You don't actually need a voice to express yourself, you can express yourself through many forms. A picture expresses the feelings of the artist through shapes and colour, a musical performances expresses the feelings through sound, a novel expresses the feelings in the form of a story that the author told. You surely can find an outlet to express yourself, Hollow... Your majesty, how would you say do you express yourself beyond words?"

"Um.", the Pale King was totally taken aback by the question. How did he express himself? Did he even express himself? He barely even used words to talk to his subjects and most of the history of the kingdom he simply had put on lore tablets which could be found around the kingdom.

"We... that is a difficult question..."

He thought about his Root and how she arranged flowers to express herself, but... did he do something like that? Did inventing spells in his workshop count?

It was Hollow who got his attention and when he directed their gaze at them, they signed two words. "Saws" and "spikes".

"Saws and spikes?!", the Pale King glanced at them with nothing but confusion and Lurien seemed too share his sentiment, even though his face couldn't be seen under his mask. Then, it slowly dawned on the Pale King.

"Are you talking about the Path of Pain?!", he gasped.

"A rather cruel name for a piece of art.", Lurien commented, with his butler standing next to him, looking rather uncomfortable.

"It wasn't a piece of art, it was a test for the capabilities of the Pure Vessel.", the Pale King blurted out. "A gauntlet full of traps to avoid, to see their true prowess."

"I beat it.", Hollow signed next to them and then crossed their arms, looking kind of puffed up and... proud.

"Yes, Hollow here beat it and then..." Then they had shared a moment. A simple glance, that was all it had been, but he had felt proud, so proud of his Pure Vessel. And Hollow... they... they probably had felt proud too, that they had beaten this challenge and that they were happy that he had been proud of them. They still had been so small at that moment, how could he ever have been fine with letting a small child undergo this challenge?

After that they had withdrawn in their chrysalis and when they emerged, well, the Pale King and Hollow both knew what had happened then. That such a small moment would be enough to rob them of their pureness... or hadn't they been pure to begin with?

"Your majesty, with the utmost respect, but... wasn't it a bit extreme to test a child with such a gauntlet?", Lurien said, fidgeting with his robe.

"We, um...", the Pale King was at a loss what to say. Even Lurien had pointed out what he had thought about just seconds earlier. Herrah probably would have taken Hollow and not let him see them for a week and Monomon would have given him an earful of a lecture.

"I enjoyed doing it.", Hollow signed.

"You did?!", the Pale King asked. "But why?"

"I liked... the challenge.", Hollow signed. "It made me feel..." At this word they looked a bit guilty, unsurely cocking their head at the Pale King.

"It's fine for you to feel, Hollow.", the Pale King said.

"It made me feel like I accomplished something...", they finished. "I would do it again."

"But not as long as you are still off balance.", the Pale King said. Once he noticed that Lurien just stared at them, he explained what their little talk had been about.

"In a sense, we guess we truly express ourselves through gauntlet building...", he said. He did had fun building up the Path of Pain, making it hard, but not impossible. Of course he had watched every attempt and made sure to send Hollow back to the beginning when they failed, so that they wouldn't get hurt. Ah, back there he already had developed feelings for them, even though he told himself that he simply didn't want to waste a perfectly good pure vessel.

"If that has been all, do you want to listen to one of Lucien's songs?", Lurien asked. Hollow wasted no time nodding, so vividly that they almost fell over, the Pale King caught them at their robes and helped them standing upright again.

While Lucien was setting up his instrument, the Pale King pulled Lurien to the side. "Lurien, on a word.", he said, with Lurien turning his attention fully to him.

"Yes, your majesty?"

"First, Hollow doesn't enjoy being called by their title, as you probably have noticed. We know that it may be hard for you, but they would prefer if you could call them by their name."

"I can't do that when I have to talk about them in my official role as the Watcher, but I will do my best to respect your wishes and call them by their preferred name.", Lurien said. The Pale King frowned a bit when Lurien mentioned that he wanted to respect his, the Pale King's wishes, not Hollow's, but he didn't paid it too much attention.

"Second, you are watching over the city, so you must be able to see where the infection strikes. We need to quarantine everyone who shows signs off the infection. There have been too much casualties, as our sentries and our knights have reported, we need to keep them to a minimum."

"I will do my best to come up with a solution and find a place for the infected to stay until you found a solution for this whole mess.", Lurien said. They both then turned their attention to Lucien, who had started to play a song, with Hollow sitting on the ground completely mesmerized by it.

After the song was over, earning Lucien a small round of applause, which he bowed too, it was time for the Pale King and Hollow to take their leave. Lurien escorted them to the elevator where he send them off with a bow.

Once they had rode it down, the Pale King spoke: "Hollow, you don't seem to like being called the Pale Heir. Why?"

Hollow, who already had started walking, stopped, and signed at him: "Because it reminds me too much of having been the Pure Vessel. I have a name now. Father, do you think of yourself as the king?"

"I...", Hollow had a good point, he always referred to himself as the Pale King in his mind. "You got me there, Hollow, I truly think of myself as my title."

"Why?", Hollow replied. "You have a name."

They then started to walk again and the talk was over, before the Pale King could even think about explaining to them why Lurien mostly used their title. His mind was to occupied thinking about their words. Maybe he should try and think of himself as Pendry? It had been so long that he used that name, even his wife normally didn't use it... Even when he hadn't been the Pale King, he normally had introduced himself as the Pale Wyrm.

He decided to follow Hollow's example though and think of himself by using his name and not his title, starting right now.

Back at the palace, Pendry didn't waste any time and searched out his wife right away, Hollow in tow.

"Rydellia.", he said once he had found her enjoying a cup of tea in solitude on one of the balconies. "I need to talk to you."

She gasped and held her branches in front of her mouth: "When was the last time you have called my by my name... Pendry?" She had a warm smile on her face.

"I think... it might have been a few centuries...", Pendry rubbed one of his prongs. "Hollow made a good point about names earlier, so I thought I should give it a try..."

"Oh, how wonderful.", Rydellia embraced Pendry and once they both looked to Hollow, who still stood in the door way, she invited them to join their embrace and soon all three of them were entangled in a hug.

"I doubt that you have come to me only to talk about names, my Wyrm.", Rydellia said. Of course, old habits died hard and Pendry was rather fond of her nickname for him. His Root was the only one who managed to make it sound warm.

"No.", Pendry shook his head once he rested comfortably on Rydellia's lap, Hollow being held in the same position, just opposite of him. "Lurien told me about rumours in the city, about Hollow. The rumours are very close to the truth, so he advised me to make their existence public."

"You don't need to say another word, I perfectly know why you have come to me." Rydellia clapped two branches together and exclaimed: "It's time to organize a party!"

"Unfortunately, yes.", Pendry lowered his head, fidgeting with his claws. They only were in the planning phase, hadn't even _started_ the planning phase, but he already became anxious.

"Watcher said this word too.", Hollow suddenly intervened. "What does it mean?"

"You want to know what a party is?", Rydellia asked, lifting Hollow on one of her branches until they were closer to her face. Hollow nodded and she continued: "It is an event where you invite other bugs to socialize and celebrate. It had food, music, dance, entertainment, but mostly it is a opportunity to talk to others, especially people you haven't seen in a while."

"That is why father doesn't like it."

Ouch, that burned a bit, even though Hollow had hit the nail on the coffin.

"Yes, exactly.", Rydellia said. "Not everyone enjoys socializing as much as I do. He normally stays in the background, when he even stays. I so often have seen him fleeing the scene and found him in his workshop later." She chuckled at the memory while Pendry was trying to keep a straight face and not burying it in his claws. Didn't Monomon write that the embarrassing stories normally were told by the parents about the children? It had to be the reverse with them, because Hollow hadn't been allowed to be a child for too long.

He shouldn't have thought that, now added to feeling hot and flustered, he also felt an intense feeling of shame and regret.

"And your father isn't the only one. Lurien, for example, even if he shows up and stays every time, most of the time he just stays in the background and watches your father. I know his title is the watcher, but he doesn't need to take it that literally."

"I think Watcher may have a crush on Father...", Hollow signed, making Rydellia break out in a clear laugh and Pendry wanting to vanish on the spot, burying his face in his claws and spiralling his tail around his legs.

"Oh, you think that too?! My Wyrm, even your child has noticed, how about you finally acknowledge it too?", she said.

"Not now, my Root.", Pendry said, being sure that his light never had been so bright.

"My apologies.", Rydellia said. "It's just too much fun to tease you." She gave him a gentle stroke over his wings and waited a bit, until his glow normalized and his pose relaxed.

"So.", Rydellia started. "Before we can introduce Hollow to the commoners, we first need to introduce them to our allies and the nobles."

"Yes, that is why we need the party.", Pendry sighed. "Can you organize everything, my Root?"

"Certainly.", she nodded. "You just take care of Hollow, teaching them how to act and getting them a proper outfit. When we introduce the heir of Hallownest, they shouldn't wear their everyday robes."

Hollow looked down at their robes: "What is wrong with them?"

"Nothing, nothing.", Pendry said. "For, uh, celebrations, you are just expected to wear something more... celebratory. I have my own robes for such occasions."

"Correct.", Rydellia said. "We should talk about who to invite of course... The late dreamers are bound to be invited, Lurien acts as the mayor of the city, so he needs to be invited anyway and Monomon does so much for the education of young bugs. Herrah as the queen of Deepnest would be needed to invited anyway... and then... the Mantis Lords!"

The Pale King nearly choked on his own spit: "You want to place Herrah and the Mantis Lords at the same table?!"

"Of course not!", Rydellia said. "We all know that their relationship isn't the best. But, I will make sure that they behave, I may not be their queen, but I am still a queen and they are coming into my palace."

Pendry noticed the resolute look on his wife's face and relaxed a bit. He could trust her that no fights would occur in the palace. Well, even though Herrah and the Mantis Lords were strong, they were still mortals, his Root would be able to stop them with ease.

"I have a list with all the nobles of the city, all the dukes and duchesses, all the barons and baronesses... What about the bugs that study soul?"

"The one who follow the so called Soul Master?", Pendry crossed his arms, both sets. "No, I don't approve of their work. They try to exploit something that is only meant for Higher Beings. I have tried to get them to end their work, but then the infection happened."

"All right, not them.", Rydellia said. "But the five great knights of course, they have to stand at our side anyway."

Pendry lowered his head when his thoughts went to Ogrim. He still hadn't returned to the palace.

"...I am sorry.", his Root said and laid a branch on his shoulder, warm with soul that she slowly shared with him. "I am sure Ogrim will return to the palace one day.."

"I am not too sure...", Pendry said and glanced at Hollow, who hadn't intervened once during their talk and just observed his Root.

"Hm... have I forgotten anyone? Oh yes, Queen Vespa from the Hive!"

"Oh no...", Pendry said and finally Hollow intervened.

"Why don't you want her to come?", they signed

"Because she will be accompanied by her knight and the last time he was here, we needed an hour and three of the great knights to explain to him, that he was running against a window, because he got very upset at it and thought it was a threat for his queen.", Pendry said, the horror of the memory flushing back into his mind.

"Yes, it was rather funny.", Rydellia laughed. "He's a strong and loyal knight, but he lacks a bit in intelligence. The Hive doesn't have windows, that may be another problem."

"What is the Hive anyway?", Hollow asked.

"That is something your father can explain to you, I have a party to prepare.", Rydellia sat down both Pendry and Hollow and then walked back into the palace, leaving the two of them standing.

"I haven't seen her that enthusiastic in a long time.", Pendry said as he looked after her. "Well then, Hollow, we better leave her be. Let me explain to you what the Hive is..."

Pendry then spent the better part of the day to explain to Hollow the different areas that existed in Hallownest and who ruled over them. Most of them were ruled by mortals, only Greenpath had a Higher Being called Unn, but she didn't want to get involved with Hallownest, so Rydellia hadn't even suggested inviting her. Her being a slug, she probably needed a week to arrive at the palace anyway. Hollow listened intently and got very interested in the Hive once they learned that honey came from there, but got a bit quieter when he talked about Deepnest.

Later, Pendry brought Hollow into bed and met up with his wife, to talk a bit more about the party plans. He had to brace himself, it would be a few rather busy days. He just hoped the infection wouldn't spark in the meantime, he didn't feel any closer to a solution still.

Since they had come back from the Watcher's Spire, the palace had changed. The Royal Retainers were hurrying and bustling around and Mother was seen frequently in the hallways, giving orders or distributing letters. For Hollow not so much had changed, they spent most of their time working on the homework Quirrel had given them or with Father. He had been told to teach them how to act once the so called party would occur, but all he said had been:

"If someone talks to you, just nod and feign interesting, don't say anything yourself until they ask a question and if, then just agree with them. All these nobles just want to hear themselves talk, they are not interested in holding a conversation, they just want for someone to listen to them."

Standing there, not saying anything and nodding, Hollow could do that. They would have been fine to stand perfectly still and not do anything at all, but Father said that this would be too much. For Hollow it wasn't a problem, after all, they didn't had to pretend that they didn't think anymore. All the time they had stand there rigid, repeating to themselves to not think, only to realize that they were, in fact, thinking and stopping any thoughts altogether. It was so much more easier to stand there and think about that they were allowed to think. No "do not do not do not do not" over and over again. It felt so liberating, but at the same time, a feeling of guilt came over them now and then, because they had failed in their task.

When this happened, they sometimes fell back into their old behaviour, about trying to stop all thoughts and feelings, until they remembered that it was fine and that Father wouldn't be mad at them. It wasn't like he had ever been mad at them when they still had pretended, but... they feared that they would disappoint him back then and that feeling still lingered in the back of their head.

At the moment, Hollow was sitting hunched over their homework. Calculation. It was something that was completely logic and should have been solved with ease, but numbers seemed to slip their mind. They didn't really get why they needed to learn that stuff, wasn't it enough that they could count? They rather would read the newest book in the "Accidental Wife" series that Quirrel had lend to them during the last sign lesson session.

It was a more than welcome distraction when Father knocked at the door of their room and once they knocked three times on the table, their sign for him to be allowed to come in, he entered and announced right away: "Hollow, I would like to take you to the city, so that we can get your robes for ceremonial occasions ready. Do you have time?"

Hollow all too much wanted to leave the stupid homework behind, so they nodded and stood up. They knew that they eventually had to do it, but this time wasn't now. Maybe they could ask Father for help later, he was good with everything that was logic. He had explained how spells worked to them once, but they had quickly given up trying to understand. For them, spells were just a feeling, once they started thinking about them, they literally couldn't cast them anymore.

"Good, then let us leave once you are ready.", Father said. He left after they nodded and they then cleaned their desk up and met up with him once they had gotten ready to go out. The both of them stopped at Mother for a brief moment, who was busy decorating a rather large room, and once Father had explained where they would be, they went to to the city.

Hollow barely had trouble with walking anymore, they had started to learn how to handle these horns. It was easiest when they would walk a bit slouched forwards, that kept them into balance the best. They hoped that they would be able to climb the steep cliff from the basin to the city on their own today, but soon had to learn, that it still was a bit too much for them. Like always, Father helped them out and carried them up. As they looked at his spread wings, translucent, but beautiful, they thought at their own, ruined ones under the robes. Sometimes they wish they could fly like him, but their wings only could served as a cloak. They probably had lost them in the void.

It didn't upset them that much however, they couldn't even jump right without falling over most of the time, so flying would probably be even more difficult. At least they could teleport, if they got that down right, then they could climb up that cliff without trouble. However, they only could teleport around three times before their soul ran out, so it wasn't an option. Yet.

Arrived at the city, Hollow was eager to see the rain, but was surprised to see that it wasn't there today. When they looked at Father, he explained without them even asking: "The rain isn't there every day. In fact, it shouldn't be there at all, but the roof constantly leaks. It requires constant repairs. It must have been repaired recently."

Hollow would have preferred for the city to be covered in rain the whole time. They loved watching the rain. Something about it was so very calming. They could stand there for hours and watch the rain. With a wistful look to the rather dry panes, they followed Father again. The city seemed to be the same, bugs hurrying around and bowing, regardless of what they were doing beforehand, once Father passed them. Because Father had told them that they needed their ceremonial robes, Hollow expected for them to get to the tailor, the one that had helped them picking out their dress. What they didn't expect, was one of the bugs approaching the king and talking in a rather distraught manner: "Your majesty, it's good to see you, because we need help. A sentry suddenly showed signs off the infection, out of nowhere. They already have injured six other sentries and a few citizens trying to overwhelm them. We are in desperate need of help."

"We are on our way.", Father said and then turned to Hollow, who already had clutched their nail. "Hollow, you stay here, it is too dangerous.", he said.

Hollow waited for a good second before they nodded to his words. They surely would be able to fight, but if Father wanted for them to wait, they would wait. They had seen him fight, they knew that Father wouldn't have had trouble against a single sentry.

They had been in an alleyway with several shops that weren't very busy right now. There also was a larger plaza with a bench, but no bugs right away. Maybe they had gotten send away because of the infected sentry. Hollow moved there and sat themselves down, listening to the distant noises of the city, wondering if they rather should have stayed right at the spot where Father had left them. Soon their thoughts faded out when the comfort of the bench hit and they half dozed off, with their head propped on their left hand and their nail still clutched in their right.

They snapped out of their half-nap when they heard voices approaching. They shook themselves awake and listened in. Nothing seemed important in the conversation, just some chatter like the Royal Retainers used to do. Hollow liked listened in to them, because they loved to chat about the various love affairs between the palace personnel and it reminded them of the novels they read. They had memorized each and every relationship between them and sometimes even wrote them down before bed, thinking about what could have happened between them.

The voices now weren't of Royal Retainers though, they sounded different. Soon the voices grew closer and two bugs came into view, smaller than most bugs Hollow had seen so far. Hollow continued to observe them as they made their way over the plaza. From the sound of their voices and the way they presented themselves, Hollow determined that the taller one of them was a boy and the smaller one must be a girl. Quirrel had explained how gender worked to them, but they had a bit of trouble getting it. Hollow didn't feel like they had a gender, they didn't feel like they needed a gender, they were just Hollow. Quirrel assured that everything would be alright as long as they respected pronouns and also, that most bugs were pretty obvious about their representation. Hollow also didn't assume that they needed to talk with them, until the both of them arrived at the bench. Both bugs stopped and stared at Hollow.

"Who are you? What are you doing here? That is our spot.", the boy bug said.

Hollow looked left and right, searching for the bug the boy had addressed, until they realized he must have talked to them and pointed at them, as if saying: "Who? Me?"

"Of course I am talking to you, or do you see any other bugs around?!", the boy growled. Hollow raised their hand to point at the girl beside him, making the boy even more mad. "She doesn't count!"

So, what should they do now? Should they talk with them? In a sense, they already were conversing with each other. Father had explained them how to talk to nobles, but they doubted this boy was one of the nobles. They crossed their arms and cocked their head, thinking. What would Father do in their situation?

"I am asking you again: Who are you and what are you doing here?!", the boy apparently grew impatient. Hollow didn't want to get too much attention on them, so they raised their hands and started to sign. However, that only earned them confused stares from the boy bug and kind of a pitiful one from the girl bug.

They lowered their hands and flipped their journal open, that they still took with them everywhere they went and wrote into it.

"I am Hollow. I am waiting for Father."

They presented the journal to the two, who shared a look. The boy bug once again spoke : "I have never seen you here before. From which school are you?"

They wrote their answer in the book again.

"I am not going to school."

"Really?", the boy bug said. "But you look around our age. You should go to a school." He crossed his arms and frowned. Hollow didn't knew how to react or what to write, they had said the truth. They weren't going to school. What else should they say?

The girl bug nudged the boy at his sleeve and then said: "Kim, please, they obviously can't talk. They probably have a tutor."

Hollow felt an intense feeling of gratitude and nodded at her. They supposed that Quirrel counted as their tutor.

"See?", the girl said and clapped her hands. Hollow kind of hoped that they would leave, but the bug apparently called Kim wasn't satisfied. "Why aren't you able to talk?", he asked.

"I was made without a voice.", Hollow wrote in their book. "I wasn't supposed to cry out my suffering."

Only when both bugs in front of them got a deeply disturbed look at their faces at their choice of words, Hollow deflated on the bench. Had they said something wrong? They only said the truth... Hollow wished Father was there, as much as he seemed to dislike talking, everyone he talked to just had to yield to him. They never had to held a conversation with strangers on their own before and started to feel rather uncomfortable about the whole deal.

"Who is your father anyway?", Kim asked. "Why is he just leaving you here?"

"He has to deal with an infected sentry.", Hollow wrote, thinking that it was better to omit the part about who he was, the latest talk with Lurien was proof enough to them, that it was a bad idea.

"Oh, maybe their father is a sentry.", the girl exclaimed. "Only the sentries and the knights deal with the ones that get sick, my mom told me about it. And see, they even have a nail." She pointed at Hollow's nail. It was just then that Hollow noticed that each of them had nail of their own, though they didn't seem to be real... rather made out of some kind of wood.

Hollow was unsure what to do. Should they lie and tell them that their father was a sentry? They were rather good at lying, with having pretended for so long to not have any emotions or thoughts, but something felt wrong about it. As they were still pondering about their next words, the bug named Kim suddenly stepped closer to them and inspected their nail.

"That one? Never have seen a nail like this before. In which dojo do you train?", he asked.

"Um, I think that isn't a shellwood nail for training.", the girl said. "That actually... looks like a genuine nail. Is it from the nailsmith in the city?"

Hollow nodded, standing up and moving closer to the girl to show their nail to her. She examined it with glowing eyes. "Woah.", she said. "It's real. That is one of the finest nails I have ever seen. My mom works as sentry, so I get to see her nail all the time, but this one looks like such high quality that it should be for one of the great knights."

"Hey, don't ignore me.", Kim came stomping from behind. "Nari, just because you would like to become a nailsmith, you don't have to praise the nail of some random kid hanging around at our spot!"

"Cut it out.", Nari said, huffing and crossing her arms. "Just because you did awful today at nail practice, you don't need to lash out at anyone who made the mistake to even look at you."

"Anyway.", Kim growled. "You have a nail, so you practice with it, right? I challenge you to a duel and when you lose, you have to leave this place."

"I.. don't think that might be such a good idea.", Nari said, but Hollow stood up, their nail ready, stepping into the middle of the plaza and bowing. Father had told them to wait, so they wouldn't abandon this place. If they had to fight for it, so be it.

"Good to see that you are not a coward.", Kim stepped opposite of them and gave them a curt bow in return. Once he had drawn his nail, Hollow stroke. They dashed forwards, easily parried his hastily raised nail and then let soul pillars emerge from the ground, enough distraction to go for a dive attack, which would probably make them fall over, but...

...they stopped when they realized that Kim sat on the ground, shivering and crying as well as when they heard Father's voice: "Hollow, what have you done?!"

Incapacitating the sentry had took longer than Pendry had been anticipated.

Not only had they wreaked a lot of havoc already, once he had stepped on the scene, _she_ had become even angrier and the sentry's efforts had doubled. Once he had managed to knock them out and get them into quarantine, Pendry then had to spend even more time healing all the other sentries and the citizens that had gotten hurt in the scuffle. All while he was hoping that Hollow hadn't wandered off and had stayed where they were, but who was he kidding, he knew that Hollow never would do something without a prompt.

So when he returned, already feeling a slight headache blooming, to where Hollow was, he was rather shocked to see Hollow standing there, with their nail raised, in front of a shivering and crying adolescent bug.

"Hollow, what have you done?!", he exclaimed and hurried over to the shivering bug, to see with relief that he wasn't hurt, but still shaken to the core. This was even more apparent because he didn't started to bow once his thrall hit him. His companion, however, while equally shivering, soon was bowing and almost hit the ground with her head.

"Father.", Hollow signed. "I got challenged to a duel."

"And you thought it was a good idea to accept a duel against someone who is clearly weaker then you? He doesn't even has a real nail.", he said, folding all of his four arms and tapping his foot. He turned to the girl, after releasing her from his thrall and asked: "What happened?"

"I.. I don't really know... It was so fast... There were... pillars of light...", the girl brought out.

"You used your soul magic against a mortal bug?!", Pendry blurted out, making Hollow deflate a bit, making him feel a bit guilty. While Hollow surely had done everything wrong that could go wrong, he had left them alone and didn't tell them what to do when someone approached at them. In a sense, he also felt a bit proud, because they had acted on their own will.

"Sorry...", Hollow signed, their head low, gaze cast on the floor.

"We talk about it later.", Pendry sighed, turning to the two children.

"Our apologies. They are used to spar against the great knights and didn't knew to hold themselves back."

"Your father is the KING?!", the bug on the ground suddenly shouted out, making Pendry flinch and looking around, hoping that nobody had seen or heard anything. It was a good thing this particular plaza was empty because of the infected sentry that had been nearby.

"No word to anyone about this.", he said, raising a claw to his mouth. "Don't tell anyone what happened here today."

The boy on the ground managed to get back on his feet, with the help of his friend and then both of them nodded.

"Good.", Pendry said and laid a hand on both of their shoulders, sharing a tiny bit of soul with them. Instantly, the two of them relaxed.

"Our apologies again.", he said. "Hollow didn't want to hurt you, they simply didn't knew better, though, you should think better too, to challenge someone to a duel who owns a real nail."

The both of them nodded again and then were off, the boy was practically running off while the girl struggled to keep up with him.

"And now to you.", Pendry huffed, laying both of his claws on Hollow's shoulders. "I am so proud of you."

"Wait, what?", Hollow signed, cocking their head in confusion, in fact, they cocked it so much that it nearly looked like they twisted their neck. Giving the void nature of their body, that was entirely possible.

"Hollow, I am not proud of what you have done, that surely went wrong, but I am proud that you have done something out of your own, free will. Without me ordering you to do it. We just need to teach you proper etiquette how to deal with mortals."

"So you aren't angry?", Hollow signed.

"Oh, you will get a punishment. Later.", Pendry said, making Hollow lower their head again. "Come, let's get to the tailor now. After all, that is what we came here for."

Hollow nodded and followed him and once they were in front of him, they signed: "Are you sure they won't tell anyone?"

"Oh, don't worry.", Pendry said, a smile on his face. "I didn't only share soul with them to relax them, but I also cast a spell on them. Every time they will try to talk about this event, they will suddenly forget the details about it."

It was one of his finer spells, but not one that could be cast easily, because it was absolutely necessary to infuse the bug who got enchanted with soul.

"You can do something like that?!", Hollow signed, their excitement showing in their frantic hand moves.

"Yes, but it took quite a bit of time to develop it. I would teach it to you, but you can't even pass on soul to other bugs to heal them, we need to work at this first..."

They spent the rest on the way talking about how to improve their handling over Soul once they arrived in front of the tailor.

"Are you ready to get your ceremonial robes?", Pendry asked and once Hollow confirmed his words with a nod, the both of them stepped over the threshold into the shop.

(Author's note:

I wanted to make a switch from titles to names for so long and I finally could do it. It still feels a bit weird though, so I hope I don't mess this up. How do you like my names for PK and WL?

Well, I totally have the headcanon that Lurien draws inappropriate erotic art of the king. Also, I wanted to let play Lurien instruments at first, but after I saw that he actually canonically draws and that isn't just fanon, I decided to switch it around and make Lucien the musician instead. I like them to be bros anyway.

I am thinking more about how gods works and I think for White Lady, being polyamorous is completely normal. She thinks every god is, but PK isn't able to wrap his head around that idea too much. She would be totally fine with him taking another partner, she is probably just waiting for his agreement for her to take another partner as well.

The last scene with Hollow was a bit difficult. I changed it around quite a bit. I wanted to make a scene like that for a long time, but I am a bit "eh" about it. The book series they think about wanting to read doesn't exist, I just used a book title generator and used the most cheesiest title I could find.

As always, thanks for reading. I would cherish when you could leave me a comment.)


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